Quest of the Four Sword
by Hikari no Vikki
Summary: For one, I can't write a good title to save my life, but that's not the point. While playing a round of Four Swords Adventures how original, the game goes on the fritz and not only does the game suck us in, but it turns one of our number against us. (On Hiatus, Revision in Progress)
1. Dream of Destiny

Chapter One: Dream of Destiny

* * *

Title: Quest of the Four Sword  
Chapter: 1  
Author: Hikari no Vikki  
Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor 

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. I based the characters on one of my friends, and two of my cousins and me. I sort of own them… but I know I own my yami and Crystal though.

Description: For one, I can't write a good title to save my life, but that's not the point. While playing a round of Four Swords Adventures (how original), the game goes on the fritz and not only does the game suck us in, but it turns one of our number against us.

Yami Vikki: (watches as plotbunnies sit in Vikki's lap and watch her type up another chapter) You submitted to the curse of the plotbunnies didn't you?

Vikki: Yes... and no. I like this story, I really do... I just need a beta reader. People can see my e-mail now, but you've got to PM me first if you want to be a beta reader. You've got to be able to:

-Spot tiny grammer mistakes  
- Don't be overly judgemental. You must be firm, but still kind. To see such example, look at the reviewer "Mike" in Shadow Watcher's 4th chapter and you'll see what I mean.  
-Be able to be online at least an hour a day (my timezone might be different than your's but nevermind)

Remember, PM me first. And I really do need a beta reader. Reviews don't come often for me and I need feedback from someone. Plus, I see grammer mistakes everywhere when I post something. It's getting on my nerves. (P.S. I use Word so if you don't have it, don't PM me, or go buy it. Thanks.)

Yami Vikki: Rated T for possible bloodshed. Anyway, on with the story. And don't forget to review!

* * *

_The night wind blew harshly against the cloak of a dark figure that stood in the darkness. No face could be seen, nor did any movement, but the figure but mutter a single sentence. "Help us, dear goddesses, send us a hero."_

_Three colorful spirits appeared in front of the hooded person. The blue spirit in the middle slid a transparent hand through the hood of the black cloak and smiled. "Call her," she said, "Call your servant." Then the blue spirit dissolved into the night, along with the other red and green ones. _

_And then the person left, a single teardrop splattering the stone banister that lined the only balcony of the castle. _

.oOo.

"So _this_ is what you've been obsessing over the past few days." Crystal jumped. "Hey! Don't scare me like that Alexia!" Crystal and her dark half Alexia lived with her uncle and grandfather, though technically her dark half lived in the locket she wore around her neck.

Crystal was seventeen, and in every way a tomboy. Though her long red hair went down to her shoulders, it was never tied up in a bow or ribbon. She never wore dresses – hated them in fact – and if makeup was on her face, it was acne cover-up.

She had pretty green eyes and one of the sweetest personalities, to those that knew not to tick her off, anyway. As to what happens when you tick her off, let's just say it's painful. Alexia was her look-alike but different in many ways. She had jet-black hair, eerie blood-red eyes, and a fierce temper. Her powers were unknown to Crystal, but unlike Crystal, who could manipulate light elements such as fire, wind, and lightning, she commanded only shadow.

Though the two seem to be opposites, their behavior to their other is the exact opposite than what you'd expect.

"Hmph. It's not my fault you weren't listening for footsteps, hikari." Crystal just glared. "Right. And what's to blame for that huh? Poor hearing? I'll have you know I got the highest in my school on my hearing test," she said proudly. Alexia gave her light half a noogie and looked over at the television screen. "Four Swords Adventures? That Zelda game?"

"Yeah. It's really cool! The villain of the game is the same one from the Minish Cap and the Four Sword game for Game Boy Advance, Vaati. Though he's a lot better looking in the Minish Cap than this one. The legend of the Four Sword, a sword than gives the bearer three other copies, allies or even just three other people, is in this game." She stopped. And waited for Alexia to nod so she could continue.

"Well, I haven't gotten so far into the game yet, I haven't even started on the first level! But I do know most of the plot from a friend…" she trailed off, apparently thinking. "Basically, someone has created a shadow of the hero, Link, and made him pull the sword from its pedestal, freeing Vaati. The sword created three other copies of him; a red, blue, and a purple copy of him, the original. And of course, cause he's Link, he's green. So the four 'Links' have to save the maidens and Princess Zelda from Vaati's clutches to save Hyrule."

Alexia blinked. "Wow… that's some plot. Sounds complicated." Crystal nodded intently. "It is! I'm not even sure that Vaati created that shadow of Link. Something else must've made him that wanted Vaati's power but they apparently failed and were most likely made his servant or dead." Alexia nodded. "Crystal?"

She looked up. "What?" Alexia's face took on a worried expression. "I- oh, nothing. It was probably just the air conditioning." Crystal stared at her for a second. Spirits couldn't feel cold. Besides, the night was actually quite warm and it carried the scent of… was that fir trees? She carefully set the gamecube controller on the ground and went to her open window.

Sticking her head out, she looked around. She didn't look up because that would be silly, so she looked left. No firs. Just houses and the occasional oak tree. She looked right. She saw more houses and the cherry blossom tree in her cousin Eliza's front yard. Then she looked at her neighbor's house and was surprised to see a light on in the window across from hers. It too, was open, and a boy about her age was sitting by it, but he wasn't looking at her. Speaking of looking, his eyes were a strange ice-blue color that seemed to contrast well with his blond hair.

She could see on a hook above the window, was an air freshener with a tiny, winding scrawl that read: Fir Tree Car Freshener.

She couldn't help it; she laughed. Immediately, the boy's head whipped over to Crystal and he fell out of his chair. At the sound of a great _thud_ hitting a floor, she stopped laughing and looked up. "Are you all right?" "Ow… was the reply. She remembered the car freshener and couldn't help but snigger. "I can hear you laughing at me, you know." Her cheeks flushed and she mumbled a low, "Sorry…"

He got up. "It's okay. Happens all the time. Mind telling me why you laughed at me in the first place?" She blinked. "I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at your air freshener." It was his turn to blush. "Oh.. _that_. My mom made me have one in here. I kind of hate it really."

"Before we start going on and on about frivolous things, what's you name? Mine's Crystal." He dipped down and came up with a plastic hand on a stick and stuck it through his window to where she could reach it. She shook it, trying not to laugh. "My name's Lysander." He took the plastic hand back and set it down somewhere.

"So… you like Zelda?" "Pardon?" "Zelda. You know, Link, Zelda, the Golden Power?" "Oh! _That_ Zelda. You know about Zelda?" He nodded. "How did you know I liked it?" "One," he started, "you play it like the world's going to end and I've watched you do it. And two, you've got like a whole bunch of the different versions of Link figurines on your headboard."

She smiled sheepishly. "You like Zelda too?" "Yeah, Four Swords is my favorite. I noticed you have it." He flicked his head to the TV behind her. "Oh, yeah, I do–" "Squirt! Almost bedtime!" She cringed. "Oh well… bedtime for me. Wanna come over tomorrow and play it? My cousin and another friend are coming. I'm sure they wouldn't like to meet you through your window…" He laughed and then winked at her and pushed his white-blond hair out of his eyes.

"Sure. I'll come. You go on to bed before you get caught." He winked once more and closed his window. As he turned out the light and went under the covers of his bed– which she now noticed was covered in a Zelda comforter like hers –she smiled. It was a small smile, and one to herself nonetheless, but a smile.

She walked back to the gamecube controller that she had left on the ground what seemed like hours ago. "What was that about?" Her neck hair prickled. She had forgotten that Alexia had even been in the room "Oh, that. I think I made a new friend." "Just like that?" "Just like that." "Wow." And then silence.

Smiling a little to suffice Alexia's cockeyed stare, she turned to put the silver controller away. As she turned the TV off and put away the gamecube and her games, something tugged sharply on her consciousness. "Huh?"

Hero… 

She shook her head. "Did you say something through our mind link, Lexi?" At this question Alexia turned slightly pink but shook her head and said no. Crystal sat down and waited to see if the voice would come again. She waited, and waited, but it didn't come.

She opened her dresser, took out a random pair of pajamas, and walked into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and fluffed her hair, then she slipped on her pajamas and looked at her reflection. The sharp tug came again and she listened intently for a voice.

Hero… child… 

Mentally she shouted, _Yes! Don't leave! _

_Hero child… the sword of the four… help us._

Hero child? Sword of the four? What did those things mean? And why did she need to help? The voice came again, but it wasn't the same one…

_Help me… and Hyrule._

The voice before had been a girl. This one was a young man's. More importantly: SAVE HYRULE?!

Maybe she was imagining it. She HAD been playing her gamecube games nearly half the day and her eyes were tired… but the voice, or actually, voices, had seemed so real. Even though they had been in her head, they could have been loud enough for her to have heard it with her own ears.

_Maybe I should sleep. I've just played too much Zelda… yes, that's it. _

Crystal yawned once and switched off the light. She turned off the light by her bed as well, but just before the room was immersed in total darkness, she took one last look at Lysander's window and smiled.

.oOo.

_Crystal wandered aimlessly through thick mist. She waved the mist away to clear a few feet of visibility, but after a few steps, the mist replaced itself. She didn't seem irritated, in fact she seemed a bit soulless, but she trudged on. Suddenly, light returned to her green eyes as she stared up fearfully at a tall castle that had appeared out of thin air. _

_Giant stone doors barred entrance into the castle, upon which several paragraphs of thin, spidery writing was etched. Here is what was written:_

Long ago, in the kingdom of Hyrule, a wind sorcerer

named Vaati appeared. Vaati terrorized the people of Hyrule and kidnapped

many beautiful girls from their homes.

When all hope seemed lost, a young boy carrying little more than a sword appeared. According to the legends, when the boy drew his sword, he split into four, the four-who-are-one worked together to vanquish Vaati.

The hero used his word to bind Vaati in a remote area in Hyrule. The people christened the blade the Four Sword and built a shrine around it. There it remained undisturbed for years. Ages flowed by...

_And then the writing began to fade, forever lost to all but the gods. _

_She didn't gasp or cry out, she merely walked right up to the doors. They opened up automatically, as if they had been expecting her. _

_She walked into the great hall which was decorated with lavish red tapestries and spectacular golden tassels lined with a long, winding string of silver weaving in and out of each one. A thick, velvety blue carpet lead the way to two great silver thrones, with a fancily dressed girl sitting in one of them. As Crystal reached the foot of the thrones, the girl stood up and spoke._

"_You came. I was afraid someone as old as you were wouldn't hear my call." Crystal said nothing, but her eyes asked her question for her. "My name is Zelda. That is all you need to know. I brought you here with my magic. My land needs saving, as well as my lover. If you can release the sword, the sword of the four, I pray that you'll save us all."_

_At this, Crystal finally spoke. _

"_Save? I'm still a child! I don't know where to begin with even a simple wooden sword…" "Ah," said Zelda, "this is where I must give you what little help I can." She gracefully pulled a small, pure black wand from the folds of her dress. "Take it. I'm sorry I can't tell you more." _

_Crystal took it, and then spoke again. "Why can't you tell me more?" "Because," she said, her face rather grave-looking, "I'm in need of your help as well. I may appear before you here and now, but I myself am captured, alongside my lover." She paused to let a tear run down her cheek. _

"_Are there more?" "Yes. Six others. Maidens, if you will. And they won't be easy to get to." "And, Lady Zelda, may I ask you one more thing?"_

"_Yes, what is it? _

"_Why me?" Zelda stood still. "You?" "Me." Silence. Then finally, Zelda took Crystal's hand, and looked her in her eyes and said, "You don't know? You are the goddess's messenger. You once lived here, in Hyrule! _That's _why I picked you, Crystal. Because you're the only other person I knew I could ask for help." Zelda's eyes were pleading and sorrowful. "Please," she begged._

_Crystal smiled. "My name isn't Crystal," she said, smirking with shadows covering her eyes, "It's Victoria, and I made a promise to serve you, and I will do just that." _

* * *


	2. The Four Sword

Chapter Two: The Four Sword 

.oOo.

Title: Quest of the Four Sword  
Chapter: 2  
Author: Hikari no Vikki  
Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor  
Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. I based the characters on one of my friends, and two of my cousins and me. I sort of own them… but I know I own my yami and Crystal though.

Description: For one, I can't write a good title to save my life, but that's not the point. While playing a round of Four Swords Adventures (how original), the game goes on the fritz and not only does the game suck us in, but it turns one of our number against us.

Yami Vikki: (watches Vikki sleep soudly on her bed, snoring lightly) Ah.. you didn't see me do that. Now, before my hikari fell asleep, she wanted me t o tell you that she REALLY, REALLY, REALLY needs a beta reader. I'm too lazy to type up the requirements so go look at her profile or go back to the last chapter and look. She just wants at least one, two is better but one is good. Remember, PM first, then give e-mail after she tells you that you've got the job.

And please review... my hikari has been listening to Zelda music all day as her inspiration for this chapter. Even we muses are of no help... the plotbunnies that plague her don't help either... I'm gonna go invent a way to kill them, so just read the chapter and REVIEW. I command you!

.oOo.

Last time on **Quest of the Four Sword**:

_Crystal smiled. "My name isn't Crystal," she said, smirking with shadows covering her eyes, "It's Victoria, and I made a promise to serve you, and I will do just that."_

.oOo.

Crystal shot up out of her dream, panting heavily. Before any thought of her dream could cross her mind, she put up her right arm in protest. "Ah, the sun! Oh, I am _so_ not a morning person…" Someone laughed.

She turned toward the sound. It was Lysander. Apparently she had left her window open and he was looking at her through his own. "Hi, Sander," she said sheepishly, still trying to block out the sun from her eyes. He chuckled. "Hi to you too, my friend. Don't like the sun? There's this great invention called window blinds. Ever heard of them?" She glared. "You're lucky you're over there," was all she muttered before sticking her head into the pillows.

"What was that?" She took her head out again. "You heard what I said." He snorted. "Oh, be quiet. You're lucky I can't reach you. Yet." She laughed at her own joke as she picked up a random shirt and shorts and stumbled numbly into her bathroom.

Lysander smiled wistfully as she closed the door to her bathroom and winked at her. He was a bit taken by the fact that they had become friends in only seconds and it seemed as though they knew each other like best friends in mere minutes. He wondered if she was thinking this, but he thought not a second more on that subject.

He fiddled with a lock of his white-blond hair and stared at one of the figurines on the backboard of her bed with his ice-blue eyes. It was the blue version one of the Four Sword Links, his favorite. He wasn't quite sure _why_ it was his favorite; maybe it was the twinkle in his eye, or the personality of that particular Link (thank Japan for mangas!), or the obvious reason that it was his favorite color, but whatever the reason, he liked this Link.

Lysander himself was a strange boy; for reasons even his parents didn't know. At the tender age of three, he could make small whirlpools in the water that would simply trip other kids, but it was worrying to say the least. He could do a lot more, but he was careful with what, and more importantly, whom he told about things he could do. The emotions of people his age go haywire and with what he could do, well it can be bad for the family of the child and those in the surrounding living area.

But Lysander wasn't like that. He kept to himself, had little friends, and was sort of an outsider. He looked up to see Crystal coming out of her bathroom and opening her door. "I've already met Alexia. Who do I need to see now?"

It was someone else. He grabbed the nearest thing he could that he could hide under and closed his eyes. "Sander! I can see you under that book, you know!" He sighed, taking the book off. She smiled. "Sander, this is my uncle, Tory." Tory was tall, had jet-black hair, puppy-dog brown eyes, and a sharp but seemingly kind face and he said, "Hi kid, nice to meet you. Take care my favorite niece will you?" As he left there were shouts of, "I'm you're only niece," and, "'Nice to meet you?' That's it?!"

She came back, fuming. And with _another_ someone else.

"He's really not that bad, for an uncle…" Crystal shook her head. "He's not _your _uncle," she shot back at the other person, a girl in fact. She also had jet-black hair but she had these eerie red eyes. "But I suppose that he isn't that bad for being an overly sarcastic uncle." Then she looked up at Lysander who was staring rather strangely at the two of them.

"He he," Crystal said sheepishly, "this is Alexia, my– "but Alexia hit her on back of her head before she could finish. Alexia grabbed Crystal by her shoulders. "Do you _honestly _think that he would know about people like me? I'm technically not even a person!" Crystal shook her and yelled back, "Do you think someone with eyes like his _doesn't _know about magic?"

Alexia just stood staring at her in disbelief. She looked at him, straight in is eyes, then looked back. Lysander noticed Crystal holding a glass half-full of water. It was the perfect tool for a demonstration. But he had to wait until…

"Anyone could have eyes like that and not know magic!" Now!

Suddenly the water in the glass in Crystal's hand completely lifted into the air at that exact moment. It spiraled through the air with expert grace and then twisted elegantly back into the glass.

"What," said Alexia with her mouth open, "just happened there?" Lysander smirked. "That was me. I know bits of magic myself. You can tell me anything you like and I won't tell a soul." Alexia sighed and a Crystal laughed to herself as she took a proud stance… or what looked like one.

They were getting nowhere. "I'm going to get straight to the point, Sander," said Crystal regaining her dignity. "Alexia is actually a spirit that resides in this locket I wear around my neck." She rested a hand over the heart-shaped golden locket on a thin gold chain that hung around her neck. "As for the locket itself," she continued, "I don't know what to say." Her expression had quickly turned from serious to downright depressed. Lysander wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he saw a tear run down her cheek.

"Wish I could come over there and comfort you, but I've got a good five feet between my window and yours." He smiled and nervously chuckled a bit, desperately hoping that she'd laugh at his joke or even smile a little. He was rewarded with a small amused shake of the head and a tiny smirk along with a whispered, "Thank you."

"I'll be over in a few hours. Deal?" He said as he flashed a cocky grin. "Sure. They're coming at around lunchtime, so be here by then." And before he could close his window she said, "And we're all playing Four Swords so bring that SP on your desk and connector if you have one. If you don't, I've got extras." Lysander shook his head and laughed to himself as he closed the window.

_This is going to be interesting. _Oh yes, interesting indeed.

.oOo.

Wind rustled the leaves of a small oak tree on Stardust Street. It wasn't a hard wind, but it was hard enough for a single leaf to break off and flutter through the air onto the small, four-pained window of a little girl who sat in the middle of a circle of leaves much like the one on the window.

Rays of light from the almost noon sun shined upon long, thick, golden blond locks which were tied in a wavy braid that wound down past her shoulders and stopped promptly half a foot above her waist.

She had pretty blue-gray eyes that shined brightly and petite peach-pink lips that complimented the long blond hair and odd blue eyes. The room's walls were covered in posters of young men, sorcerers and sorceresses drawn in swordplay and war battles. The detail of each one seemed to make them look as if they were merely frozen in time and could continue their fight at any moment.

The girl sighed happily as she daintily placed each leaf into the box where she kept them. Instead of putting them in a binder where they could stay fresh looking forever, she instead put them in a simple box which she slid slowly under her bed. The bed itself had a plain pale green covering, soft black cotton pillows, and a few small plush toys piled up in the upper left corner.

The girl then picked up a book from the floor. On the book was a picture of two swords placed in an 'X' figure with their tips pointed up and was titled, "The Art of Fencing". Still smiling softly, the girl slid the book in between several other adventure type books lined up between two plastic silver bookends.

The girl laughed softly as she fished out a pink SP from the top drawer of her desk. On the SP was a piece of masking tape with the name, "Ashley Willis" written on it in a tiny spidery scrawl. She smiled as she slid that and a purple GC connector into a faded blue-jean purse. As she turned around and slung the purse over her shoulder, she called out to someone.

"Mother! I'm leaving for Crystal's!"

And then she left, her hand barely ghosting a small green-clothed Link figurine that seemed to glow as she did so.

.oOo.

DING-DONG!

"I'll get it!"

Crystal was rushing to get to the door before her uncle, and she barely got there in time. She opened the door, Ashley stood holding a purse in her hands like a rabbit, which she knew inside was her SP and connector. Eliza came from across the street and followed her in, giving Crystal a kiss and a hug as she went in. She was her cousin after all.

She could see Lysander walking up the concrete driveway holding his SP and connector. Crystal smiled. Today was going to be fun. Her smiled widened into a wistful one and she yelled back to Eliza and Ashley, "Just head on upstairs guys!"

They did as she said and scampered up the stairs, whispering and giggling amongst the two of them. Crystal stood at the door as Lysander walked up to it slowly. He came right up her and flashed a cocky smile. "Are you going to invite me in?" She blinked. "Huh?" "Are you going to ask me in or what?" He smiled again and looked into her eyes. A small blush crept onto her face but she shook it off and laughed shakily.

"S- Sure. C'mon in." She stepped aside once and watched him wave and stand at the foot of the stairs. Subconsciously something told her to tell him where her room was. "My room is up the stairs, take a left then it's the last door on your right." All she heard as she closed the door was a small, "Okay," and some shuffling footsteps that faded away after awhile.

Alexia was standing right where Lysander had been when she'd last seen him, and she was holding a half-eaten apple in her hand. "You like him, don't you?" she said suddenly. A deeper blush crept back into her cheeks. "Do not!" Crystal shot back softly, climbing up the stairs. Alexia followed, silently giggling uncontrollably.

At the top of the stairs, she stopped. "He's a friend, I tell you. Nothing more."

Then she hid her face from Alexia as she took the left to her room. Alexia sighed. Her light half was still hurting, she could tell. Even though it had been two years ago, the pain from her first boyfriend had broken her when it came to romance.

She remembered how bitter Crystal had become after the boy had told her he only liked her for her popularity and not her. When she told him she didn't like men like that, she simply said, "We're done. Go away." Alexia thought that she had gotten over that, but the scars were still there. "Time doesn't heal all wounds…" she muttered. Then she followed Crystal down the hallway to her room.

There was a welcoming roar of, "Hey Crystal!" from Eliza and Christine as she entered. Crystal smiled brightly as if Alexia hadn't mentioned her run-in two years ago.

"Hey, you guys!"

Alexia came up into the room, and, getting no welcome, she shouted, "What am I, invisible?" "You're a spirit, Lexi," Lysander teased, "I think only a select few barely CAN see you, much less touch you." She glared and threw a pillow at him, but she missed.

"So," said Eliza, tugging at one of the clip-on barrettes in her violet-streaked black hair, "who's he?" She pointed at Lysander.

"Umm… that's Lysander. Met him last night." "Last night?" questioned Ashley. She nodded and then sweatdropped at the memory. "That's um… hard to explain." Then Lysander spoke up.

"I live next door. She saw me through my window and somehow we became friends." But Ashley was persistent. "No, _how _did you meet?" He blinked. "Umm…" Alexia chose this moment to speak up. "He has an air freshener in front of his window." "Why? Would he-" "Shush!" she chided Christine, "Let me finish! Now, Crystal of course saw it and she started laughing. Then he fell off his chair ("No, don't say anything! NO!" they both said in unison) and they started talking. As you both know, my Chrissy is a fast talker so she somehow ended up with a new friend after they finished."

Both Lysander and Crystal had their heads in their hands with the exception of Crystal giving Alexia what looked like a death glare. "You have a death wish don't you?" "I did." "Did?" "I'm already dead. I _did_ have a death wish." "Ah."

"So," Eliza piped, holding up the 'Four Swords Adventures' game, "are we gonna play or what?"

"Sure," Crystal shrugged. "That's what we came fore wasn't it?"

"I'm the blue Link!" Lysander shouted. "I'm purple!" "Green!"

Crystal stared at the only other socket left. "Guess I'm red then." And she slid her connector in and turned on the game.

"Hey," said Ashley, "let's start a new file?" "Sure," agreed Crystal. "Why not?"

The game began the introduction and they all watched in silence.

Long ago, in the kingdom of Hyrule, a wind sorcerer

named Vaati appeared. Vaati terrorized the people of Hyrule and kidnapped

many beautiful girls from their homes.

When all hope seemed lost, a young boy carrying little more than a sword appeared. According to the legends, when the boy drew his sword, he split into four, the four-who-are-one worked together to vanquish Vaati.

_Hey…_ thought Crystal, _this is familiar…_

The hero used his word to bind Vaati in a remote area in Hyrule. The people christened the blade the Four Sword and built a shrine around it. There it remained undisturbed for years. Ages flowed by...

The wind sorcerer Vaati broke free of his prison and kidnapped Zelda, the princess of Hyrule. Princess Zelda's childhood friend, Link, used the power of the Four Sword to defeat Vaati and seal him away once again.

_Very familiar… and that voice last night… did I dream it or not?_

And, for a time, the people of Hyrule believed that their land was safe.

Crystal got up and started rummaging through her bed sheets. "Are you okay Chrissy? Chrissy?" But Crystal could only hear the hard thumping of her own heart. Dark magic was surrounding everywhere like a shroud and it was restricting her ability to breathe. And finally she found it, the small black wand that the girl had given her.

She froze. Zelda. The girl's name had been Zelda. She had to–

Until...

Time froze. The fog in the room had become apparent, but even the wand that Crystal held plastered to her chest could not save them now.

The game was glowing brightly. It started to flash periodically. The flashes became more frequent. The wand seemed to glow as well, shooting out colored blasts of light over them all. Suddenly, the game flashed brightly once more and the whole room went dark.

Then at once she fell to the floor and blacked out.

.oOo.

Black, darkness… it was everywhere.

Crystal's eyes shot open. Where was she?

She looked down to see Ashley in a green hat and tunic. Ashley seemed to be confused, like she was trying to talk to someone to get answers but the person wasn't listening. So she looked again and strained to hear any voices.

"Alexia!" Christine called out. "Why won't you listen to me?"

"I'm sorry," came a robotic version of Alexia's voice. Crystal spotted her and banged on the glasslike barrier that kept her from going in. She could faintly hear the voices of Lysander and Eliza begging for her to listen.

But Alexia continued.

"I'm sorry, Ashley. He won't let me have control of my body. He–" she spotted speaking for a second and her white-filled eyes became black and another, different voice sounded.

"Take the sword, you petty girl. Take it, or your friend dies."

"No!" Crystal cried. "Get your mind out of her you filth! Get out, get out!" But her cries still went unnoticed.

She knew Ashley would have no choice but to take the sword, the Four Sword.

_No… that sword releases Vaati! No!_

Neither her thought nor her words cold be heard now… and Ashley took hold of the hilt of the sword and pulled.

All of a sudden she appeared beside her friend, with Eliza and Lysander standing next to her, each in a different colored tunic. But the shock of being able to speak and be heard again was short-lived; because as soon as they had put their swords in their sheaths, a whirlwind of power surrounded them, and they were blown out of the chamber… far, far away…

And Vaati appeared, but not in his floating eye form.

Instead, he looked almost human… with the exception of being somewhat purple. He had a purple cape and tunic, with the exception of his pants, which were red. He smiled and then laughed a bit.

"That pitiful excuse for a villain thought he could barter with my power, could he? Well, he thought wrong. Didn't he, my pet?"

Alexia's eyes had become normal again, but she still had no control over her body.

"My hikari will free me, you snake! She'll take your power away too!"

He started to chuckle, and then he right out laughed evilly.

"Oh, my pet, you are so wrong. Those pathetic Picoris thought that they could do the same… but look at me now… yes, look at me. They even thought they could curse me with the form of a floating eye… but I am neither powerless nor body less am I, hmm?" He cackled once more.

"It is time to take my revenge on the princess and her little lover…"

"And what are you going to do with me, huh?" He turned around to face Alexia. "Oh, I have plans for you… oh yes. I have full control over your body thanks to the powers I took from Ganon. And the fool didn't even notice that they were gone. Ha! Yes… I have plans for you… now come, my pet. I know exactly where to send you…"

And he left, with Alexia forcefully trailing behind him.

.oOo.


	3. Lake Hylia

Chapter Three: Lake Hylia

* * *

Title: Quest of the Four Sword  
Chapter: 3  
Author: Hikari no Vikki  
Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor  
Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. I based the characters on one of my friends, and two of my cousins and me. I sort of own them… but I know I own Crystal and her yami though. 

Description: For one, I can't write a good title to save my life, but that's not the point. While playing a round of Four Swords Adventures (how original), the game goes on the fritz and not only does the game suck us in, but it turns one of our number against us.

* * *

Last time on **Quest of the Four Sword**: 

"It is time to take my revenge on the princess and her little lover…"

"And what are you going to do with me, huh?" He turned around to face Alexia. "Oh, I have plans for you… oh yes. I have full control over your body thanks to the powers I took from Ganon. And the fool didn't even notice that they were gone. Ha! Yes… I have plans for you… now come, my pet. I know exactly where to send you…"

And he left, with Alexia forcefully trailing behind him.

* * *

"Ashley! Crystal! Lysander! Eliza! You must awaken, all of you!" 

The voice was low and mixed with an occasional hoot. Four figures lay in the shadow of a nearby tree. Three were female and the fourth was male. They were all clad in matching tunics, each a different color. Green, red, blue, and purple they were, laying sprawled, side by side in the shade.

Ashley, who was in the green tunic, muttered, "No Mother… go away…" while Crystal, who was in red, simply shifted and snored loudly once. Eliza had on the purple tunic and sort of clawed at the air like a cat while Lysander, who was clad in blue, didn't even move.

"Wake up already!" The voice yelled once more.

"Wha, what? I'm up, I'm up!" Crystal shot up like a rocket, her eyes bleary and still slightly tear streaked. Ashley and Eliza woke up clawing at each other while Crystal had to shake Lysander awake (she guessed he was a heavy sleeper). Leaves were flying everywhere, and Lysander and Crystal had gotten tangled up somehow.

"What did you get us tangled up for?" Lysander murmured slyly. Crystal blushed and tried vainly to untangle herself. After awhile, Lysander firmly grabbed her arm, and gently pulled her off him. She stared at him. "See how easy that was?" She rolled her eyes, but she turned around to hide the blush that had crept into her cheeks.

"Hoo hoot! At last, you're awake, children. I am Kaepora Gaebora."

They all stopped what they were doing and stared. When there was no response, he continued.

"Mine is the voice you've been hearing since you left the Four Sword Sanctuary. I know you're wondering about how you got here, but you must not act rashly. Find the six shrine maidens and Princess Zelda, and you will also find Vaati, the one who trapped you in this realm. As for that dark shadow... Let's call her Yami. That one is up to no good."

"It's her body that's up to no good!" Crystal yelled.

"Pardon me child?" "Her mind is still good, Kaepora. It's just that Vaati has full control over her body." Crystal meekly muttered back.

"Very well then. But you must be careful if this is true. Her actions can be unpredictable if he is controlling her. Getting back to the point, your swords are weak, but you can restore their power by infusing it with Force Gems. Hoo hoo! I must fly, but we will meet again on the road ahead."

And then he flew off, leaving them to ponder their situation.

"So," said Eliza, "how _did_ we get here?" No one knew, not even Crystal.

"I suppose someone brought us here for a reason, but what that reason is, I think it's obvious what." Crystal didn't look too pleased. "Yes, that's a very good explanation Ashley, but none of us know how to even hold a sword, much less use one in battle…" She seemed a bit far off, like her mind wasn't quite awake yet.

"Well, you see, Crystal, that's where you're wrong. You see, I was studying the art of fencing for the Middle Ages school project we were supposed to do. But seeing as we aren't exactly in our time anymore, I think we can put my knowledge on the subject to good use."

"Ash, you are a life savor!" Eliza jumped up. Ashley found that Eliza was clinging onto her waist with a dreamy smile on her face. "Umm… Liz? You can let go now." "Oh," she said, quickly stepping a good foot away from her as she let go, "yes, right. Heh…"

"So what do you think of all of this Lysander?"

Lysander still seemed a bit out of it as well, but at the sound of Crystal's voice he came to. "Huh, what?" "What do you think of all this, Sander?" She repeated again. He shrugged and then took on a thoughtful expression. "I'm not really sure. This is all so surreal it's almost like we're dreaming it, but since we're obviously not, I'm not so sure what to think of it. I've always wanted to be in Link's shoes, but this… there's a serious possibility that we might not live through this."

Everyone fell silent and took on a sullen mood. "But there's no need to be all sad about it! We could write a story or something about this if we ever get back to our time. We might even get one of the best grades!" Everyone laughed. "I'm sure we could, Sander. Now, show us how to handle these swords of ours, Ashley."

She nodded and unsheathed her sword.

"Now, you hold your sword in the hand you use to write with because that's obviously going to be your best hand. We need to get moving soon so I won't go through _everything_ from what I read, but I'll give you the basics."

"Now," she barked, "we start with formation fighting!"

Ashley began pacing and holding her sword its hilt with the tip trailing a little in the grass.

"Formation fighting works best when you have at least three people in your group. Since we have four, we're good. The first formation is the box formation. This formation can only be used if you have four, nine, twelve, or any number of people that have the same number going up as sideways. Let's try it."

Ashley set herself in the upper right corner, and the others followed in the formation. Eliza took the lower right, Lysander took the lower left, and Crystal took the upper left.

"I'm not sure why this formation was listed, because unless the lower people faced away from the upper people, things could seriously get messy." "Pretty fast too… especially with these things…" muttered Crystal under her breath.

"There's also the long and wide formations where all of the people are in one straight horizontal or vertical line. I like this formation better than the others, but it can be a bit of a pain to stay in at one time. Then there's the cross formation."

"We know about the cross formation already, Ash. You told us about it last week, remember?" She blinked as Eliza said this. "Oh yeah… well, I guess I should… hey, Lysander?" He looked up. "Do you know what the cross formation is?" He nodded. "Right. Okay, then."

She twirled her sword once and caught it with its tip up in the air.

"Now, you must know the main parts of a sword in order to be able to repair and/or fix it in a pinch. In each of our swords there's this part at the end of the hilt that holds these gems here. You see it?" Everyone nodded. "That is called the pommel. Very useful if you want to knock someone out quickly and not kill them. The guard and shoulder of the sword aren't important, so I won't say a thing on them."

Ashley walked up to the little group and let her finger trace the sharp edge of the sword. "This, my friends, is the _edge_ of the sword. This little indent on the inside of the sword is called the fuller, and this shadowed part is called the back. The back of the sword works just like the pommel if you use it right. It can knock someone out for a good few hours, depending on how hard you hit a person."

"Now, I trust that we've all played our share of Zelda to know how to _use _a sword?"

"Well enough, I suppose," said Crystal. "What about you Sander?" He nodded again. "Then let's be off!" shouted Eliza, "Hyrule won't get saved with us just standing here!" They all had a good laugh at that and proceeded through the forest.

_Meanwhile, in the Palace of the Winds…_

"You tried to take away my power, didn't you, Ganon?" Vaati was in a rather foul mood at the moment. He realized a little while ago that he had blown away those pesky little wannabe heroes before he could do a single thing to them. Having no other outlet to vent his frustration, he was occupying his time barking orders at his little slave, Alexia, and yelling at Ganon for his mistakes.

"You are useless Ganon!" "And so are you Vaati!" Vaati stood up, furious. "What did you just say?" Ganon chuckled at his feet. "You are useless yourself Vaati. I have thwarted Hyrule many more times than you have-" "-and yet you lost every time…" "That means nothing, you whelp! I've only let you pretend to be in charge. I let myself be belittled by you and so much more, but I will keep you here as my last resort."

"Your last resort to what?" Vaati scoffed. "If you really have been keeping me here under the illusion that I was truly in power, then show me. Let us have a duel to see who has kept whom here." Ganon's face crumpled. "I will come back for that Vaati. But for now I have things to do. Hyrule won't manage itself you know?" and before he left the room, Ganon turned and said to Vaati, "Make sure to keep an eye on those kids for me, will you? I've learned that even little kids can be a hassle… you _will_ keep an eye on them, or it's your neck on the line."

After that was said, he left and it was silent in Vaati's chamber.

Vaati slumped in his throne, his head in his hands. What if Ganon was right? What if he _was_ Ganon's prisoner? And what did he mean by last resort?

"Vaati?"

The voice was small and timid; Alexia had returned. No doubt she had seen his little episode of fear, but that did not bother him.

"What is it Alexia? Why must you trouble me now?"

"If you do not mind, I would simply like to talk with you." "Talk?" he whispered, laughing a little, "You wanted to _talk_? I don't need to be comforted, servant. Not now, anyway."

"I did not seek to comfort you, I just wanted to speak with you is all." He scoffed. "You're speaking to me now, aren't you?" "Well," she looked down at her feet, "of course I am sir. I'm not an idiot."

"Then why _ask _to speak with me?"

"Because," she said timidly, "it is _polite_ to ask. You _are_ familiar with to concept of manners, are you not?"

"Of course I am! I simply choose not to use them." "You should," Alexia whispered, her eyes tearing slightly, "it helps… sometimes." And then she turned around and stopped at the door.

"It helps… just take my advice. I'll be in my quarters if you need me."

Vaati simply stared at the place she had been standing at moments ago.

Had she really merely wanted to _talk _to him? If so, what would it have been about? He decided he would ask the girl later. He fiddled with the pearl-like jewel that he had put at the tip of his staff to act as a crystal ball.

Ganon had wanted him to watch the children… they weren't really children really… By Hyrule's standards they were actually adults. But he had to watch them nonetheless.

Suddenly it hit Vaati. Ganon said that he was going to use him as a last resort. Last resort to what? As a last defense? If that was so… Vaati sighed. He deserved to be in the position he was in now. He was starting to have a strong longing for that talk Alexia had mentioned. He would go to her later. If he wanted to live he was going to have to change… and change wasn't something he could easily do.

Did he just want to live because he didn't want to die, or did some part of him want to live so that he could become good like Link? Speaking of Link, he had an idea.

"Shadow Link, come here… please?"

.oOo.

"Are you so sure of jumping down the falls _now_?" Ashley gulped and mumbled shakily back, "W- we k- kind of h- have to." "Well, I suppose you're right… but…"

Crystal and Ashely were standing on a ledge at the edge of the waterfall they had come across. Lysander and Eliza were arguing behind them on who would win the argument: Crystal, or Ashley? In the end, Lysander won, and they were going with Crystal's idea to simply jump.

"Okay," she boomed, trying to be heard over the roar of the falls, "close your eyes and think of the force gem at the bottom! Now, 1, 2, 3, jump!"

"AHH!"

They all screamed simultaneously when they jumped, and as they were falling, there was a loud CLANG mixed in with the screams.

SPLASH!

"Well, that was easy." "Easy for you to say, Crystal. This Force Gem I hit tried to knock all the air out of me…" Eliza, who had been hit by a Force Gem, had a triangle-shaped imprint on her face. Needless to say, she looked quite.. err… distressed. "I did say there was a force gem down at the bottom didn't I?" Crystal shot back, giggling. "Well, yeah…"

"So, now what do we do?" Lysander muttered, attempting to wring out his hair.

They all shrugged. "I don't know," Crystal mused, "I never got this far in the first level…" Something in the water swished around her legs. "Guys, did you feel that?" "Feel what?" "Like something swimming past your legs." They all shook their heads.

Ashley looked around. "I don't _see_ anything…" "Just because you don't see anything doesn't mean there's nothing there. I thought you would know that by now."

There was a sudden WHOOSH and Ashley shrieked.

"What was that?" "What was what?" Crystal asked. "Something shot past my ear! I could have sworn…" She looked at Lysander. "Not me," he shot back. Eliza shook her head. "Crystal?" So did Crystal. Then there was a great, "ROAR!!" and they all froze.

"That didn't happen to be any of your stomachs… did it?" Ashley squeaked.

Silence. Crystal slowly turned around. "Umm… guys? I think you'll want to see this…" Eliza turned around, and the other two followed. "Is that what I think it is?" "Yes, Ashley, it is. Now, let's just back away _slowly_…" Lysander coughed. "Uh, Crystal, I don't think it will let us do that…"

Before them was a little green and orange creature with fins on the sides of its head. It was small, but they knew from their experiences with Zelda games that this creature wasn't one to be toyed with.

"Umm, Liz? What is it?" "I think it might be and Octorock… or a Zora…" "Zora?" Crystal questioned, "I thought they were good?" "Not all of them," Eliza gulped.

Whatever it was, it was slowly swimming towards them. They could hear the roar of rapidly swishing water behind them as they backed up. Each step seemed to take a lifetime…

"Uh, Sander? What's that sound?" Lysander looked behind them. "That would be a… a whirlpool, umm, Crystal." "A what?" "Whirlpool."

"Great," cursed Eliza, "just great. We got a monster in front and a whirlpool in the back! What now?"

"You're gonna wish you didn't say tha- whoa!" Crystal whipped around. "Lysander!" Looking around frantically and finding nothing, she muttered to herself, "I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't know why I'm doing this…" She turned her head and yelled out to Ashley and Eliza, "I'm going in!" Eliza shouted back to her, "What?! Are you nuts?" "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, but something tells me this is our only way out!" And the rest of what she said faded of into the wild rush of the whirlpool. Crystal jumped, and didn't come back up.

Ashley was still fighting off the monster, who had apparently run out of ammo, was flinging rocks at her little shield. Eliza came up to her and whispered in her ear, "Ash, we've got to jump into the whirlpool. Crystal thinks it's our only way out." "Where's Crystal?" Eliza bit her lip. "Well, Crystal… she, uh, she already jumped." "What? Is she nuts?" "That's what I said. Well, you and I both know that she's a radical thinker, now c'mon!"

"Wha- ah!"

Eliza grabbed Ashley by the collar and dived into the whirlpool after them.

After coming up to the surface at least once or twice, they finally found Lysander and Crystal, still trying to catch their breath, at the end of the water tunnel.

"You two are crazy, you know that?" Eliza gasped. "Yes, we may be crazy, but if you went in there, you two are crazy too! Besides, coming out on the other side wasn't easy first try mind you… I could've _sworn _I almost turned purple holding my breath!" "You _did_ turn purple," Lysander said as he flashed a cocky smile.

"Be quiet you." Crystal snapped.

"Where to next?" Ashley piped. Crystal pointed to a hole in the ground. "In there?" "Do you see any other means of getting across to the other side, Ashley?" She shook her head. "I didn't think so."

So they went in.

"It's really dark in here…" "Ouch! That's my foot, Ashley!" "Of course it's dark, it's a cave." "That's not what I meant…"

No one could tell who was talking or who was where; it was almost too dark to see where they were going. Until…

"Hey, guys! Look!"

Crystal's Fire Rod lit up four torches, and the whole room lit itself. The light revealed four stepping switches as well.

"That's so cool… wish I had a Fire Rod…" Ashley made her eyes become all big and chibi-like. "Nope, Ash. This rod is mine." Ashley pouted.

Standing on the switches revealed a moving panel. Ashley looked down into the chasm below and Eliza commented, "Bet'cha don't want to fall down there, huh?" Ashley nodded, gulping.

As soon as they were out of the cave, they dusted themselves off and continued down the road.

Eliza could tell that Crystal looked a little down, so she took her aside to talk.

"You alright, Crystal? You have spoken much since we started all this."

Crystal sighed, her face forlorn looking and dark. "It just seems so hopeless, Liz. Vaati's taken my dark half prisoner and he keeps torturing me by controlling her body and making her attack us. It's just not fair!"

All the while, her eyes had become full of tears and she looked a mess. Her hair was askew, her tunic was ruffled, and her hat had fallen to the ground and had been stomped on. Eliza put her arm around her cousin's shoulders.

"We will get through this, you hear me? You and your yami are thicker than thieves when it comes to friendship, and I'm sure she won't forget that bond even in captivity. You'll do fine… I promise. Can you promise me you won't do this again, hmm?"

"I can't promise you that _exactly_, I'm still a teenager, you know," Crystal said quietly. "You're seventeen, Crystal. We're all practically adults! Well, I really am an adult, but so what?" So nudged her cousin in the side playfully.

"Just give me a smile and tell me you're a fighter, kay? Or do I have to call you what my dad calls you? Ne, Squirt?" Crystal wiped away some stray tears and smiled.

"Thanks, Liz. You always knew how to cheer me up." Eliza smiled and gave her a pat on the back.

"Crystal! Eliza! Help us!"

They looked at each other at once. "Uh oh…" "Yeah, big uh oh…"

And they ran straight into a whole bunch of guards.

Crystal started randomly firing her Fire Rod while Eliza went berserk with her sword. After they were sure that all the guards were dead, they saw Lysander choking an even bigger guard than the ones that they had just fought with a strand of water from a nearby pool.

Eventually the guard fell limp, and Lysander set him gently down on the ground. He uncurled the fingers in the knight's left hand and slowly pulled his sword out.

Ashley was simply standing there, holding her sword limply in her right hand.

"What was that you said about needing help?"

Ashley jumped. "Guys! Where were you? All of the guards just started attacking us relentlessly… oh, it was horrible. But then you came along and gave Lysander a chance to do what he just did. It's really, really incredible!"

Crystal waved her away. "I know he can manipulate water. He showed it to me the morning this all started."

"Oh… well it still looked pretty cool."

As soon as she said this, a whole bunch of Force Gems landed on the ground.

"Force Gems!" They all cried. After picking up all the force gems, their swords began to glow.

"Hey," shouted Crystal, "I see Kaepora! He'll know where to send us next!"

They all stood in front of the owl, awaiting his wise words of wisdom.

"Children, those black spheres form a barrier of darkness! The darkness that Vaati created is siphoning the power from the land. If these barriers are left intact across Hyrule, Vaati will grow even stronger. Look! Already, the green fields that once grew here have withered to dust. It is unforgivable, what he has done to the land! The power of the Four Sword can destroy the barriers! You must bring your light and pierce the darkness!"

"If you say so, Kaepora," Crystal answered him softly, "but what must we do to break these barriers?"

"You must combine the strength of four into one and fight your way out!" 

And he flew off again.

"I suppose we must hit them with our swords. At least that's what I think he said…"

"Well," Lysander said, looking at the shadow barrier cautiously, "if we must, we must. Let's get this over with."

Positioning themselves at a different sphere, they lifted their swords high in the air, brought them down and CRASH! The spheres were no more. The barrier began to disappear, and grass began to grow where grass had not been before.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ashley, "We did it!"

…

Vaati watched them jump up and down in their happiness through his crystal. If things went the way he planned, he might be able to become good after all. That is, if Ganon didn't find out before then…

* * *

Vikki: Vaati kawaii-ness! (squeals) 

Yami Vikki: You're strange, you know that?

Vaati: Not strange... just... eccentric. And hey, I'm kawaii!

Yami Vikki: No, you're a bishounen. And you're mine!

Vikki: Nuh-uh! (grabs Vaati) My bishounen!

Yami Vikki: Nih! (pouts)

Vikki: You got Lysander. He's a bishounen too!

Lysander: Hey, don't bring me into this!

Yami Vikki: My bishounen! (glomps)

Lysander: Ack!

Crystal: Nuh-uh! Sander's mine! (grabs Lysander)

Yami Vikki: But- but- I want a bishounen toooo! (cries anime style)

(Sander, Crystal, Vikki, and Vaati all stare at her for a second)

Vikki: (pats Yami Vikki on back) There, there. You'll get one eventually.

Yami Vikki: But I want one now... (sniff)

Vikki: Go steal Yugi. He's sort of a bishounen...

Yami Yugi: Don't even think about it.

Vikki: Um... never mind. Anyway, couldn't decide on some things so I had to rewrite this three times over... well, it's here now! And peoples! Yes, you, the people reading this! Reveiw! For my sake?


	4. Cave of No Return

Chapter Four: The Cave of No Return

* * *

Title: Quest of the Four Sword  
Chapter: 4  
Author: Hikari no Vikki  
Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor  
Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. I based the characters on one of my friends, and two of my cousins and me. I sort of own them… but I know I own my yami and Crystal though. 

Description: For one, I can't write a good title to save my life, but that's not the point. While playing a round of Four Swords Adventures (how original), the game goes on the fritz and not only does the game suck us in, but it turns one of our number against us.

_Now, I have no problems with this being a girl/girl and boy/girl story, since I have a friend who is bi. I will not say any names, and if you don't like it, you don't have to read it. The bi-ness doesn't technically doesn't start in this chapter, even though there is tons of flirting (mainly on Eliza's part), but there is no girl/girl love yet. Personally, I think if you look at the personalities of both Eliza and Ashley, they're perfect for each other. Since the Lysander (Blue) and Crystal (Red) paring is based off the FSA Manga and some influential fanfics, I'm totally fine with that being straight myself. _

_With that said, don't forget to review, and flames are welcome, but please be civil about them. I can't stand people who take up my time and do that just to vent some anger or something. Peace out:) _

* * *

Last time on **Quest of the Four Sword**: 

Positioning themselves at a different sphere, they lifted their swords high in the air, brought them down and CRASH! The spheres were no more. The barrier began to disappear, and grass began to grow where grass had not been before.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ashley, "We did it!"

…

Vaati watched them jump up and down in their happiness through his crystal. If things went the way he planned, he might be able to become good after all. That is, if Ganon didn't find out before then…

* * *

They stood at the foot of a cave that towered above them like a mouse standing at the mouth of a cat. Sharp stalactites outlined the top of the cave, making it look very menacing indeed. 

"We have to go in there?" Lysander was hesitant. He didn't like caves. He didn't like darkness for that matter.

"We have to, Sander," Crystal soothed, "we can't progress if we don't." His shoulders sagged a little. "Well, if we have to."

So they set foot in the cave and they heard the door slam behind them with a loud BOOM!

"Uh, not good, not good…" "Shh, Sander… you should know that doors have a habit of doing that in Zelda games…" He whimpered a little, bit nothing more was said.

Then the dust began to settle, and they saw almost nothing but darkness.

Two lanterns sat some ways away, around the corner of the hallway, giving off two small soft glows.

Lysander rushed past the others and ran over and picked one up, holding it close. "Afraid of the dark?" The hair on the back of his neck bristled. "Am not!" he snapped back.

Someone jumped, then fell to the ground. "You don't have to snap," they said, rubbing whatever they landed on. He sighed. "Sorry… I didn't-" Eliza came out of the shadows and put and hand on his shoulder. "It's okay." He nodded slowly as she took the other lantern.

They came to a locked door, which had two torches, one on each side.

"I guess we light the torches.." Eliza mused. And so they did, opening the door. "Seems easy enough. I wonder how big this next room will be?"

The next room was quite large, with walls surrounding them like a maze. They could see two small un-lit torches and a large ring of fire a bout a yard or so away. Crystal looked around for any movement, and then she saw it, a small muscle twitch. Her eyes found the person, and when she saw who it was, her heart clenched.

"Alexia!" She wanted so much to run and hug her, to hold her… tears threatened to fall down her cheeks, but she would not let them go.

Alexia's head did not turn, but her eyes flickered over to Crystal.

"No, don't come closer!" she yelled frantically, "If you do, I'll have to attack you and then disappear!"

Crystal wanted so much to get just _one_ more inch closer… but she knew that she could not. If she took even another centimeter of a step, Alexia would charge, miss, and disappear like she always had been.

"Why do you ask this?" "I want to tell you something before you progress. Within the cave, caverns await you. They are too far to jump, but I'm sure you can _throw_ something across." Silence. "Are you done?" "Nn- Yes. You may let me go now." Crystal gave her a sad look, the tears threatening harder now. She looked one more time, and took one more step closer to her. Just as predicted, she charged, missed, disappeared, and left behind a Force Gem.

For a second she felt as if her friend was still with her somehow, yet Alexia was nowhere in sight.

She wanted so much to let the tears fall again, but she promised Eliza she would be strong. She had to be. She was like a leader to the others.

Eliza walked up stood beside Crystal. "You alright?" She had silently promised her cousin that she would be, so she hid the wounds on her ego and nodded. Eliza smiled, unaware of the pain she still harbored.

"What now?" Ashley asked, watching the large ring of fire a little ways away. Crystal looked out across the room. "Light those torches." She said, pointing to one close to her and another farther down the hallway, "See what it does." Eliza and Lysander lit the two torches, upon which Force Gems fell from the ceiling and landed in different places.

"All that did was make force fall from the sky, err, ceiling," Ashley mused. "There must be something else.."

"And do you have any bright ideas, Ashy?" "Ashy?" Crystal blinked. "Nickname. You don't remember?" She shook her head. "I just decided that Ashley's too long. You know how Liz and Sander call you Ash?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, somehow I got it in my head to call you Ashy." "Just as long as you don't go spreading it around," she hissed under her breath. "Sure I won't," Crystal giggled back silently.

They followed the hallway and came to a dead end of five large blocks. "Come on," said Crystal, "one of these blocks is bound to be able to move." They all nodded in agreement. They each took a block and pushed.

No one seemed to have much luck, until Lysander tried a new block.

As Lysander pushed, he could feel that something was shifting under his block. It was like the dirt under his feet was churning a little, like something was moving. He opened his eyes and he realized that he was pushing his block. "Guys, guys! My block moved!" "Cool, Sander!" Crystal cheered.

Lysander pushed it just enough so they could squeeze through. A little tired, he put his back against the wall and slid to the ground. "Hey guys," he panted, "can we rest for just a bit? We haven't taken a break since Kaepora woke us up." "You know guys, he's right. We haven't taken a break since then. Sure Sander, we'll rest a bit."

Crystal plopped down beside him.

"Don't you want to be with the others?" "Nah. You're the only guy out of us four so I thought you'd like some company." She flashed a smiled and winked. "Why you? Why not Ash or Liz?" "Liz is way out of your league, and Ash… she's too busy looking out for me so a boy doesn't hurt me."

He looked over at Ashley and Eliza who were deep in a conversation on the wall to their right. "A boy, hurting you? Who said anything about that, Chrissy?" He put his arm on her shoulder and he felt her stiffen. "What's wrong? You're all tensed up." He could feel her try to relax her muscles but most of the tenseness remained.

"Tense? Why do you say that? I suppose it might be from all this fighting… I've never done something like this before and it feels like I'm always on edge. It's like anything can set me off at any given moment… I'm just tired of seeing Alexia like that all the time. Who knows how long it will be before we reach Vaati?"

He realized she had a point, but she had said something else too…

"You care about Alexia don't you?" There was silence for a while and he could feel her hesitate through the arm he had around her shoulder. A small, short, "Yes…" was all he got as an answer.

Her expression changed from distant to brooding, then brooding to thinking, and then thinking to a simple blank expression all in the span of less than two minutes. Her thoughts were scattered and her brain was trying to wrangle them up, but it kept wrangling all the wrong ones… the anger, the hurt, the depression that she had buried deep within her from that fateful day were starting to surface, and they had rallied together as if to say, "We want out already!"

After awhile, she got up. ""But, I'm-" "We should get moving." She murmured harshly, "-not done… talking…" His voice faded away as she walked over and said something to Ashley and Eliza and then disappeared from view. He got up after her but stopped short after a few steps to stare.

He tried to call her back but his voice had abandoned him.

"What on earth did you say to her?" It was Eliza. "I- I don't… know…" His voice was soft, and it sounded hurt as well, so Eliza didn't bother to press for any further details. She realized now that she had protected her cousin for long enough, and it was time for her to get over it and move on.

Ashley tried to question him as well, but Eliza prevented her from doing so. When she asked Eliza why, she curtly replied, "We're through protecting her. Crystal needs to get over it already." "And how is she going to do _that_? How do you except her to do what she couldn't do in two years in the span of a few days?" "Just bear with me here, alright?" Ashley sighed, shaking her head.

Crystal was silent, only doing things when asked by Eliza or Ashley and if she directed, it was by pointing where she wanted said person to go. Ashley wanted to know what was troubling her friend, but Eliza persisted that he just let things take their course.

Lysander was worried. After some time of nothing but silence, he was through with it. By the time they got to the next room, he vowed to tell Crystal _something_… what, however, was a problem he couldn't solve.He couldn't take it anymore… whoever said silence was deafening had the right idea.

"Liz," he said, putting a hand on her should and giving her _that _look, "take Ashley and go ahead and push that block, okay? Continue on and if you find any more blocks after that, push them too. We'll catch up with you in a little bit." Eliza sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing, Lysander." But she did as she was told, cursing silently under her breath.

Crystal leaned against the wall, her head turned away from him.

"Crystal, look at me. At least speak to me." She made no movement. "Crystal…" he whined. Again, she made no movement. She might have blinked once or twice and if possible, deepened her already deep scowl, but still she did not move. Lysander couldn't control it. Something had to be done. With as much control as she could muster, he roughly grabbed his friend's shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"Crystal, I don't know what I said to make you like this, but whatever it was, get over it!" It took nearly all of his energy to keep himself sane so not much energy was left for speaking. Luckily, that meant that his voice was low, so she didn't have to worry about Liz or Ash coming to find them like this.

He started up again. "I can't stand this silence. Speak to me already! Get a grip Crystal, and get over it! If you like me, like me! What's your problem?!" The whites in Crystal's eyes stilled and got bigger. Lysander knew at once he had struck something.

A small stream of tears flowed from Crystal's eyes as she struggled to speak clearly. "I-I c-can't –hic- l-like –hic- you…" More and more tears came, steadily flowing faster. "I-I can't –hic- get hurt –hic- again…"

He let go of his friend at once stepping away a little in half-shame. Hurt? Had she had a boyfriend before and she was still hurting? He looked at Crystal as she vainly tried to wipe her eyes of all the tears. Lysander took her into a hug, this time softer, and rocked her a little. He hummed something as he rocked her, but he realized they had to go. "Crystal, we should catch up with the others…" He pulled Crystal off of him, though she was reluctant, drying the rest of her tears. "Let's not tell Liz and Ash about this, okay Crystal?" She nodded silently. "Now come on and try to look just a little bit cheery for me, alright?"

After catching up with Eliza and Ashley, a mutual silence settled over the group. Eliza knew that Lysander had said _something _to Crystal and it felt like it had broken the barrier between her and him, as well as the rest of the group. They still weren't speaking to each other, but they were tolerating walking side by side for the moment. It was a start, but she really wished that they could be on speaking terms soon.

After some semi-silent block pushing and key carrying, they made it to the next room. "This cave goes on forever…" "Seems like, Sander." Eliza looked out across the room-

… wait. They actually spoke to each other. She clapped a little and almost squealed, earning a strange look from Ashley. "They're speaking again," she whispered hastily, "the silence was _killing_ me." "Likewise," she muttered back under her breath.

So she looked across the room, watching Crystal and Lysander take turns trying to push a green block. "Let me try guys," she said walking up to them. "I might be able to.' "Suit yourself," Crystal sighed. "Sander and I both pushed it together and it didn't even budge." Strange… she also noticed the block was green too. "Hey Ash!' she called back. "Try pushing this block for us!" "Can't you push it yourself?" "No…"

Ashley came up to Eliza and stared at the block. "It's not that big you guys. Honestly, did you even try to push it?" "Yes!" they shouted in unison. "Ah! Okay, okay, I get the message!" She positioned herself in front of it and breathed in a, "This better work," and then pushed. The block moved like any other block, except…

"I think I get it now."

"What, that you three couldn't push this?" Eliza simply shot a death glare over to Ashley and continued on. "The block is green, you see. Ashley is wearing green. Crystal, go push that red block over there." Crystal did so and it moved. "Now try pushing that blue block to the far left." Crystal also did this, but the block did not budge. "It won't budge!" she shouted. "Why is this? Because She is wearing red, like the first block she pushed, not blue like that one."

"Well," sighed Ashley, "now that we know how these blocks work, let's get moving, shall we?" "Well said Ash," Crystal agreed.

"What do we do now, though? There's a whole bunch of different blocks… which one do we push first?"

"That… uh, I… haven't figured that out yet."

"Oh joy." Ashley muttered, her voice laced thickly with sarcasm.

Lysander and Crystal sniggered to themselves in the background.

They pushed a few blocks here and there, though only blocks that they were sure needed to be pushed. Though one decision had accidentally been made a little to soon…

"Guys! Did you mean to trap me in here?" "Does it _sound_ like we did?" Eliza shot back, trying to keep her cool. Crystal and Lysander watched her pace back and forth frantically in unison; their heads flipping from side to side. After a many short breaks between panic attacks, and one tiny calming session, Eliza was able to come up with a plan.

"Okay, Lysander, push those two blocks so Crystal can push that one over there. After that, I will push that block, freeing both Ash and creating a way for us to get to the door that will take us to the next room."

Lysander did as he was told, and after he pushed his two blocks and Crystal whispered to Lysander as she walked past him, "I'm sorry I did that… it was my fault…"

Lysander just shook his head. "I had some fault as well. I asked you a personal question that I shouldn't have asked." He paused, and muttered something back as a smile crept on his face. "Is that topic free to be asked now? You promise you won't go ranting or anything?" She laughed to herself half-heartedly. "Mostly… I do care about my dark half a lot, but she's not you." He had nothing to say to that.

And Crystal pushed her block. After Eliza pushed her block, Ashley came out, hugging a giant green force gem in her hands.

"You could've taken that, you know." Ashley blinked. "I know. I was going to give it to you…" she stopped, as if she wasn't sure if she should say what she was going to. "Well, spit it out…" "Here, just take it, okay?" And Ashley set it, not shoved it, gently in her half limp hands, and walked calmly over to the door and leaned up against the wall.

"I think I know what she was going to say, Liz. She's just too stuck up to say it." Eliza looked at her with a sly smile. "You shouldn't be talking about stuck up…" Crystal whacked her across the back of her head. "Can too!" "Not. You don't remember that silent treatment you gave us back there?" "Well if you put it that way…" Lysander watched the two bicker playfully. A small smile, a genuine, but small, smile ghosted his lips as he looked at Crystal wistfully. Then he shook himself at a certain thought the had crossed his mind…

_Whoa… you don't float that way, Sander._

A little glint flickered in his eyes for a second, but it disappeared as he followed the group into the next room.

The room itself was large in height, width, and length. The floor in front of them was blank, while many pots and some torches lay at the east end of the chamber.

"Does this room speak 'loads of traps' to you?" Crystal asked the others, at which they howled with laughter.

"By the looks of it," Eliza said, becoming serious once more, "we've got to either light all the torches, or destroy all those little… squiggly, weird things down there."

Ashley looked at her. "Squiggly weird things?" "I don't _what_ they are, so I made up my own name." She held her head high and hand curled into a fist was placed on her chest. "Can you make up a better one?" "Uh… no." "I thought not." And then she laughed, her hand following along the wall to avoid any possible traps.

"Uh," Ashley said to Crystal and Lysander, "let's go…. follow her…"

Lysander leaned down next to Crystal. "Are those two always this funny?" Crystal scoffed. "Depends on your definition of funny. We could be in a life-threatening situation and they'd _still_ be going at each other. But to their credit, they were a lot more judgmental of each other when they first met, believe me," she said as they too followed Ashley.

"Hm," said Lysander, rubbing his chin with an amused smile on his face, "Do tell. I can't possibly imagine what it was like since I've only known you what, almost two days?" She said nothing, but a hidden smile graced her lips. "I can't really put it in nice words, I'll say that much. And as for that whole only knowing you for two days, you said yourself before all this started that you felt like you'd known me your whole life. To tell you the truth, for some strange reason, I feel the same way. But how to explain it… well," she shrugged, "that's quite beyond me."

"Ahh!"

They looked at each other. Lysander shrugged and then laughed a shaky, "Uh oh?" "Yeah," Crystal shot back sarcastically, "big uh oh. This 'uh oh' thing is starting to become a reoccurring thing isn't it?" "I'll have to take your word for it because we have to go save Ashley!" "What?" "That was Ashley's scream." Crystal looked at him shrewdly for a second and then ran off down the middle of the room where it was obvious that there were no traps.

"Eliza!" Crystal screamed. She took a second glance at Eliza and hesitated to speak again. Once Lysander caught up with her, she had this I-don't-know-what-to-do look on her face and her mouth was hanging loose a little.

Eliza was muttering several curses under her breath as she was trying to pull up Ashley from the hole she had uncovered. "You know, you guys could help me a little bi-ah!"

A small, squiggly creature tried to jump her but it missed and fell into the pit down to its death. "Uh, never mind, just- just kill those things so they don't kill me!" Having no objections to not dying, they did just that, whacking every little green creature with their swords like maniacs. Eliza just stared at them, most likely thinking _That, is… a __strange__ way of doing it, but at least the door's open!_ As the last creature was killed, the door opened.

She didn't realize that she was still holding Ashley until she screamed up at her, "You could you know, _try_ to help me up here…" Eliza looked down. "Oh, it's you." "Just help me up!" And so she did, but at the same time she said, "Am I always going to be the one to save you?" "Maybe, maybe not. I doubt you'd say that though if you had been in my place…" She simply shrugged and flashed a sly smirk at Ashley, who scoffed.

"Can it, you two. We need to get through this cave without too much fighting, okay?" Eliza laughed. "What happened to that 'well if you put it that way'?" "Oh, quiet you. It was only for a few minutes! " "A few? A few?!" This continued as they walked into the next room.

Un-amused by the playful bickering, Lysander looked at Ashley and said, "Are they always like that?" "One, they're cousins, they're allowed to do that. And two, when it's me and Eliza, we're way worse." "Ah," he said, rubbing his knuckles against his shirt, "I see." And they followed the two of them, who had finally stopped bickering.

And then they stopped walking altogether. "Wow… that's a lot of pots…"

The room was square with nine sets of at least twelve pots each. "Yeah… a lot of … pots."

"Any ideas on what to do, Liz?" She shook her head. "All I see is pots, pots, and more pots." "How about we just whack every pot in sight," Lysander piped. "Uh," muttered Ashley hesitantly, "well, I don't see any better option. All for whacking every pot in sight like maniacs say aye!" "Aye!" they shouted in unison.

They lined up in a straight line and charged up their swords. "Okay guys," shouted Ashley, "one the count of three! One, two, three!"

"AHH!"

They spun in four circles all the way down the room, stars circling their heads at a rapid fire pace. "Ooh… its pretty…" "Snap out of it, Ash! Hey look! I found a key!" Crystal picked it up, sliding it into her pocket

BAOO! FWOOSH!

"Huh? What was that?" BAOO!

"Ash," said Crystal shakily, "t- that was the lasers." "Lasers?" "Don't question me, just run!" Several screams and more BAOO sounds followed as they ran anime style across and out of the room.

"Never, make, me, do, that, again…" Lysander said between breaths. "Well, it was either that or get fried." "Okay… you point there."

"Oy, Lysander!" Ashley called. "You could try out for the track team if we ever get out of here." "Sure, sure Ash." "No, I mean it! You were wickedly fast back there…" "No kidding… I was just concentrating on getting out of there alive!" "Oh, come on, Sander," Crystal said patting his back, "give yourself some credit!" "Credit? I take none for myself; I do not want it." "Who doesn't?" said Ashley not seeing the serious look plastered to his face.

Crystal half glared at her and was about to make a snide remark when Lysander put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. "Come on, we should continue." Sighing, she nodded in response, subconsciously grabbing his hand as they walked into the next room.

Lysander had a soft blush creeping into his cheeks, but it was soon extinguished by the amount of light in the room going from a lot to nearly none. He squeezed her hand a little in fear, but she squeezed back, assuring him she was there. The lanterns on his and Eliza's belt glowed softly and gave the group enough light to see by.

They said not a word as they walked down the room, more of a hallway then a room, and huddled together in their cautiousness.

"This is a strange room," Ashley muttered softly, "I can see a bow over there, but I can't see any way to get to it." "Try using your boomerang, Ash." Eliza suggested. She shook her head. "I tried that." She stepped closer to the dark abyss, the edge no more than an inch or so away from her feet. "And I don't think just jumping is a good idea either…" She inched away from the edge over to where Eliza was.

Eliza stood at the chasm's edge, rubbing her chin. Suddenly, she got an idea.

"Ash, take me lantern." "Why?" Just take it, kay?" They switched items. "What now?" Eliza shook her head and started to rub her chin again. Then Crystal piped up.

"I think I know." They both looked at her. "How?" "Well, she started, her eyes looking up, "when I saw Alexia earlier, she told me that you had to throw someone or something over the chasms here. Does that help any?"

"Yeah, lots," Eliza said excitedly. Then she stopped, and looked at Ashley. "Oh no. No, n-n-n-no. No. Uh-uh. NO." "It's either you or me, Ash, and I doubt that you could carry me, could you, kyu-ti?" Ashley blushed a little, not used to anyone calling her a cutie except her mother. "F- Fine," she stuttered. "You better not miss."

Eliza scoffed. "I would never miss." Ashley grunted as Eliza picked her up. Just before she threw her, Eliza whispered into her ear, "It's always more fun with you around…" She didn't have any time to ponder this, because Eliza then threw her across the chasm as hard as she could, with Ashley landing facedown on the concrete.

"Ouch…"

"You alright? I didn't throw you too hard did I?" Ashley could detect actual concern in her voice as she called out. And what was with calling her cutie? Not like it hadn't happened before, but that was the _last_ thing she would have thought Eliza to say. She threw back a slurred, "Mmhm… just fine," and continued her search for the bow.

She found it, right next to a small gray orb. Ashley whacked the orb with her sword and it started to glow green. A path appeared, bridging the gap between the platform and the other side of the chasm. She picked up the bow and set the lantern down in its place, shooting one arrow at the wall to get a feel for her new weapon. It was sturdy, well crafted, and felt at peace in her hands. The bow was hers, though she missed the boomerang a bit.

She crossed the pathway and rejoined the others. "Eliza, you keep the boomerang. I think it suits you better than me." Eliza studied it for a bit, threw it once and caught it, and then looked at it some more. Finally she turned to Ashley and said, "I think you're right. It feels better in my hands than the lantern. Thanks."

"No biggie," she scoffed playfully, an odd spark shining brightly in her eyes, "just be good to it, daijoubu?" "Ne," Eliza chided just as playfully, "I will."

Crystal and Lysander looked at each other. "Eliza and Ashley being _nice_ to each other?" Lysander seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Hell hath frozen over…" "Hai! We can hear you, you know!" "Oui," Crystal shouted back, "I know. That's what makes it so fun." A double set of groans could be heard as they entered the next room.

It was big, very big, and very, very tall. It had a chasm so wide they couldn't see the end, as it was covered in shadow. Lysander instinctively clung to Crystal hand, and she squeezed his hand a little again to tell him it was okay. "Why are you so afraid of the dark, Sander?" she whispered softly to him. He whispered back, "I'll tell you if we ever get out of here… now's not the time." She squeezed his hand once more and left it at that.

"What do we do now?" Ashley asked Eliza. "I don't know. Try shooting at those flames. Maybe it'll do something." Ashley loaded her bow, and shot into one of the flames. Surprisingly enough, it went all the way through, and lit three other torches down the line.

She looked back. "Maybe it it'll do something, ne?" "Hai," Eliza shot back, "just do the others, kyu-ti." Ashley quickly turned away, a blush creeping into her cheeks. There that word was again. Kyu-ti; she had been called that before by guys and even other girls, but Eliza was the last person you would expect to be flirting with another girl. She just seemed so sensible, down to earth, and _straight_. But she pushed the thought aside for now and shot at the other three flames, igniting nine other torches.

"ACK!" As soon as all the torches were lit, a whole bunch of bats swooped down from the shadows and attacked the group.

"Oi, Ashley-chan," Eliza shot over her shoulder as she fought off a few bats, "you think you can get more than me?" "You're taunting me aren't you?" Eliza shrugged, her back pushed up against Ashley's. "Maybe." She smirked, even though Ashley couldn't see. "Well, taunting me or not," Ashley shot back, "you're on!"

On the other side of the bridge, Crystal and Lysander were fighting off some more of the bats. "What are they talking about?" Lysander shouted over the flapping of the bats' wings. "No idea," Crystal shouted back, "but it can't be good."

Ashley did a pirouette of some sort, jumped, twirled in midair, and then landed, a dead bat landing with her. "All that for one?" Eliza scoffed. Then four more landed on the ground seconds later. Eliza's mouth nearly fell off. She shook her head and scoffed again. "I can do better." "Just try," Ashley shot back.

Eliza ran across the bridge once, and started to run back down again. At the middle of the bridge, she sort of jumped using her sword as a brace and took off, In the air, she took out a good five bats by twirling a 360 and another one by a simple slash as she did a somersault to land. She stood up, holding her sword up to her chest proudly. "Beat that kyu-ti."

This continued on until all the bats were gone.

"Looks like I won, Ash." "Hai, looks like you did." Ashley smiled a little, but did nothing else. "Come on guys," Crystal yelled from the door, we've got to move!" "Oy, coming!" Eliza shouted back. Crystal nodded and turned up the stairs after Lysander.

"We should do that again sometime," Eliza smirked. "You play hard. I like that." Just as she turned to go up the stairs, Ashley stopped her. "Yeah, you aren't to bad yourself. You work out?" Eliza didn't turned around. Instead, she laughed a little and said, "I guess you could say that." She walked up to the stairway entrance and stopped. "You know, I've always wanted to do that."

Ashley looked up. "Do what?" "Have a proper swordfight. We really should do that again." And she went up the stairs, just like that.

"Man, you're one weird girl, Eliza. Hell will freeze over before I ever understand you." With that said, she followed her up the stairs.

And more stairs… and more stairs.

They came to this old mage sitting at a crossroad. "Which way do we go, Liz?" "I don't know… let's go right."

"Aw, cool! Chests!" Ashley opened one up. "I got 5 force gems! How many did you get Liz?" "20." "20?! Aw, shit." "Aw, don't be sad, you can have them." "What?" Eliza nodded. "You can have them. Take it as kind of a 'thank you' for that big gem you gave me earlier." Ashley stared at her for a second. "Um… thanks." "No biggie." She winked. "I still got more than you in the long run." "Aw, you- you-!" Eliza held a finger to her lips.

As soon as Lysander and Crystal were up the next set of stairs, she whispered in her ear, "Why waste your energy on me, ne? You'll need it to yell at me later." She stared at Eliza for a second. "You're really, really strange." "Hai," she said back, "I know."

"Hey guys!' Came Crystal's voice, "You coming?" "Yeah!" Eliza yelled back up. They passed more sets of stairs until they finally came to an opening where a ghostlike man was standing… err, floating.

"Ooh… So you've wandered into this cave of no return, huh? It has an exit, but I couldn't pull it." "Pull it, sir?" Crystal asks him. "That lever over there," he says, pointing to a lever in the wall, "I couldn't pull it because I was all alone… you're lucky. You have friends… I died alone too…" The group inched away from the man because his words and how he spoke were both depressing.

"Umm," Eliza says, looking over her shoulder at the old man, "I guess we pull the lever." "Yeah," Ashley whispers back, "guess so."

And so they pulled it and went through the door that opened it.

"That old man was depressing," Eliza told Ashley, who nodded. "I think the only time I was more depressed was when my cat died. And trust me, I loved my cat to death. Maybe I did literally, but that's not the point. The point is, the guy was depressing." Ashley nodded and muttered a curt, "Likewise," and fiddled with her thumbs behind her back.

When they entered the next room, the door shut behind them.

Not a good sign…

The group stood side by side like so: Ashley, Eliza, Crystal, then Lysander, and they all had their swords drawn. They took a few steps into the room, and a shadow bubbled up from the ground before them.

As figure rose from the shadows slowly, they raised their shields in anticipation.

It was a young man, clothed in a onyx black tunic and hat. He had these eerie gray eyes and striking violet purple hair. "I am called Shadow Link," he said, "and I was sent by my master to give you a message. My master tells you that it is not him that causes these terrible things, but someone far more sinister."

"How can we believe you?" Crystal shouted. "How can we believe you if your master will not come here himself?" The Shadow remained emotionless. "He is being held against his will as a prisoner. He wants to be free." His emotionless state faltered. "Please," he begged, "please believe me." Again Crystal said, "Why should we?" His eyes seemed more pleading now.

"If you won't believe my word, than I suppose that I'll have to fight you." He resumed his emotionless state. "Master said that if you didn't believe _me_, a fight was the only way." He unsheathed his sword. "Good luck."

And so it began.

"A four on one fight doesn't seem very fair though, does it Shadow?" Crystal shouted at him as they dueled. "I've had worse." "Worse?" she scoffed, pushing her sword put against his, "try me." Shadow eyes flashed red a second and she was thrown against the wall from a blast of shadow magic. "Don't _ever_ talk about that!" he shouted angrily.

All of a sudden Lysander ran at him with a loud battle cry, holding his word like a battering ram. "How dare you do that!" He slammed into Shadow, rolled over and got up. He was about to slash at him again but Shadow was too fast for him. He stood up, and blocked Lysander's sword.

"Try harder boy. I've got reflexes like a cat, you have no chance against me."

"Oh yeah?" Eliza shouted. Ashley was right behind her, fighting off more bats. "Oh yeah," said Shadow, who thrust his hand toward them, sending a large cloud of bats their way.

"More bats? As if this guy wasn't enough?"

"Shut up Ash and keep fighting. I want to get out of this cave with my life you know." Ashley glared at her and pressed her back against hers again. Both their hands were moving, sometimes firing an arrow at a bat, throwing a boomerang or just plain whacking every bat like a maniac, but they were always moving.

Crystal got up slowly from the wall Shadow had thrown her at. "Note to self," she muttered, "don't insult Shadow…" She picked up her sword and ran to find him.

Lysander was having trouble keeping up with Shadow, the guy really was fast. He was using his shield most of the time but even that did not stop him from getting hurt. He had a deep gash on his left shoulder, and another one that wasn't as deep on his back. He had two small cuts on the right side of his face, and another on his right leg.

Shadow has just knocked him down to the ground and his shield was on the other side of the hallway. He still had his sword, but it would do him no good, because all of its force was gone. So as Shadow brought his sword down to end his life, he lay there in pain, waiting to die.

Instead he heard a loud, resonating sound, but no… well, no _splat_.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, and he could see Crystal standing in front of Shadow, with her sword raised, struggling to win in a battle between her strength and his. Shadow may be fast, but continuous strength didn't seem to be his forte. Crystal was winning, for now.

Meanwhile, around the corner, Eliza and Ashley were fighting off more bats.

"Ahh! The blasted thing bit me!" Ashley shook her hand and looked at the wound. She shrugged, "It's not that bad…" "Well get cracking then!" Eliza shouted, killing another two bats beside Ashley's head, "We aren't done yet!"

Ashley slashed and slashed but the bats never seemed to end. After awhile, they seemed to die out, and Eliza turned to Ashley and said, "You've got a strange way of fighting, but I like you. You're tough." She winked. Eliza, like _her_? "You're out of your mind, girl," Ashley said to her, at which Eliza nodded and replied proudly, "Yeah, I know."

Ashley spotted one last bat hovering behind Eliza's head. It bared its fangs and made a dive for her neck. "Look out!' Ashley shouted, tackling her.

The bat landed on the ground, dead.

THUD!

Eliza hit the ground with a thud, and Ashley on her soon after. Ashley was blushing madly when she realized how close they were. She could feel Eliza's breath in her ear, and she could smell its sweet scent. It smelled liked peppermint, and she could almost taste it so much it made her mouth water.

"Oy," said Eliza, not seeing the blush, "do you plan on getting off me or what?" "Hmm?" "I said, do you plan on getting off your bloody arse so we can go help Crystal?" Oh… darn.

Reluctantly she got off, pouting. She got up, dusted herself off, and then said, "But you were such a nice pillow… I should fall on you more often." She turned around, walking toward the sound of clashing swords. Eliza stared at her, her mouth hanging open slightly. Finally, she shook her head and yelled after her, "Don't you even try!" at which she got a resonating giggle from around the corner.

Eliza got up and followed Ashley to the strangest sight imaginable.

Shadow was losing his ground, but Crystal was still going strong. Shadow's knees were bent and his back was leaning backwards a little as he tried to stop the descent of her sword with his own. Lysander was still on the ground behind them, watching wide-eyed.

Ashley crouched down to Lysander's level. "How long 'ave they been at it?" He shook his head. "No idea. Seems like forever. Where have you guys been?" Ashley blushed lightly at which Lysander gave her a strange look. "Are you an-" "No." she said sharply, "We just had a bit of a run-in with some bats is all." Eliza was still out of earshot. "So, what _really_ happened back there?" "Err," she hesitated. "I just fell on her is all I did. Really embarrassing." "Ah." Somehow, in the look he had on his face, he didn't believe her. She was slightly unnerved, but he said nothing as Eliza walked over.

Finally, Shadow broke, and Crystal let him have it. She slashed at his chest, not once, but twice like an x, and once across his back. Another slash went to the back of his right leg and another one to the front of his left.

"Why," he wheezed, "are you so relentless about this, eh? I've nothing against you." Crystal stopped short. She made no movement for the awhile and her eyes were shadowed. "I know." She muttered.

"Then why?"

"I- I don't know."

Silence. For the longest time there was just silence.

Then Shadow spoke. "You want to ask me something don't you?" She scoffed. "I want to ask you many things, but I don't know the right one."

Shadow's lip curled in a small smile. "So," he asks her, "What is the right question?"

She thought. And the longer she thought, the less sense her thoughts made. There were so many questions and so many reasons, but only one seemed to fit, but she would not believe it. He had tried to kill Lysander. His master had taken Alexia. Wait…

"Who is your master?" She said finally.

"Ah," he said, the familiar shadows bubbling around him, "Now _that_ is the right question. You see, child, you already know."

And then he was gone, just like that, with a large green force gem in his place.

The whole group just stood there a while, looking at the spot where he had been. Finally, Crystal turned and said, "Let's move, people! If we want to see daylight before we die we'd better get moving." She flashed them all a smile. Being a leader, she realized, meant that you had to carry on as well as motivate. She could think about what Shadow said later, but now, they had to get out.

Crystal let Lysander take the force gem, and their swords glowed brightly as they headed down the path that had opened after Shadow's defeat.

"So," Lysander said to Crystal as he hopped to catch up with her, "are you okay?" "As okay as I'll ever be," she replied. "I won't ever be the same after this though."

_None of us will_, Lysander thought.

She looked over at his wounds. "We should get those cleaned up soon." Lysander flinched as a spark of pain shot through on of his legs. "I suppose so. Not right now, I want to see daylight first." Crystal smiled softly and put a hand on his back. "Sure, Sander. Just hang in there for me, okay?" He nodded, and she turned her head again.

Crystal seemed okay, but it felt like she had lost parts of herself. Though instead of them being piece by piece, they were just everywhere. And it was throwing her off balance. Lysander decided right then he would help her, and maybe try and get to know her as well.

Behind them, Eliza and Ashley were silent. Eliza's eyes were beginning to wander, as were her hands. They twitched for contact with flesh other than hers, and as her left hand swished back it brushed against Ashley's. A spark shot through her hand and arm, all the way up to her brain, where it curled up into a little ball and rolled around inside. She blinked, a little startled.

Ashley noticed Eliza's small hesitation after their hands had brushed. Could it be that she had felt the same spark that had run up her arm and into her head? If she had, Ashley could do nothing but smile. She had felt the same spark with others; only this one was more… noticed.

Eliza noticed a wistful smile grace Ashley's lips. From her angle, Ashley actually looked, well, cute. So she had flirted a little but had it meant anything? She had never really classified her preferences for a gender, so did it mean something or was it all just a really fun game?

Eliza had a strange look of contimplation on her face, worried, even. Ashley was a little worried. Having experience with other girls, she decided to do something simple, yet not so simple. She took Eliza's hand and held it.

Crash, stop, get out of the way! Brain running rampant! Eliza's brain tingled with her heightened senses. Her hand for a little while simply locked in place, but did not wriggle. Slowly, the immediate shock had worn off and she gradually let her hand slid into place with Ashley's. This wasn't so bad… she actually liked it. She smiled contently, the monster in her heart purring.

Ashley watched as Eliza's face slowly changed and became more content with the situation. Right away she could tell that Eliza had never held hands with a girl like this before, but Ashley didn't care. Content with simply holding hands as well, the group made it to where the seal was.

Like clockwork, Eliza and Ashley let go of each other's hands, raised their swords with Crystal and Lysander, and brought them down on the orbs with a loud CRASH!

Once again the orbs were no more.

Colored lights surrounded them, and the just like that, they were gone.

* * *

Vikki: No Vaati kawaii-ness… (sniff) 

Vaati: I'm… here?

Vikki: (whines, sniffs) Hug me?

Vaati: Err, sure. (hugs but is taken into a squishy, sobby hug by Vikki)

Yami Vikki: You're one strange hikari, Kiko-chan.

Vikki: But I got to play with some fun parings!

Vaati: (is sitting in Vikki's lap, looking defeated)

Yami Vikki: Yeah… what's with the Ashley and the Eliza thing?

Vikki: Who knows? I thought it was pretty good idea at the time and if people don't like it, I don't care about them. Only the people who leave good reviews get cookies.

Yami Vikki: And if they don't, they'll have me to answer to!

Vikki: (is still hugging Vaati) Oh, you can go now. (lets Vaati go)

Vaati: No, I like it here. (snuggles into Vikki)

Vikki: (looks down) (shrugs) Can't say I can complain. (huggles Vaati)

Yami Vikki: Still weird.

Vikki: Shut up.


	5. Hyrule Castle

Chapter Five: Hyrule Castle

* * *

Title: Quest of the Four Sword

Chapter: 5

Author: Hikari no Vikki

Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. I based the characters on one of my friends, and two of my cousins and me. I sort of own them… but I know I own my yami and Crystal though.

Description: For one, I can't write a good title to save my life, but that's not the point. While playing a round of Four Swords Adventures (how original), the game goes on the fritz and not only does the game suck us in, but it turns one of our number against us.

_I apologize for my lateness. I have been working on my completed story Shadow Watcher (finally!) and it's taken up most of my time, as you can see. Oh, and my beta reader, Seshafi seems to have forgotten me. If you want to see the requirements, go to the first chapter of this story and they should be there. Happy early Thanksgiving!  
_

_Warning, Vaati kawainess will ensue. You have been warned; you may proceed._

* * *

Last time on **Quest of the Four Sword**:

Like clockwork, Eliza and Ashley let go of each other's hands, raised their swords with Crystal and Lysander, and brought them down on the orbs with a loud CRASH!

Once again the orbs were no more.

Colored lights surrounded them, and the just like that, they were gone.

* * *

Lysander blinked. "Where are we again?"

"No idea," muttered Crystal, "but we're in some kind of field." She got up and dusted herself off, looking around.

"Like I couldn't see that my little genius," Eliza said sarcastically. Crystal glared while Ashley just giggled. "Cousins will be cousins, no?" Eliza turned around and gave Ashley one of _those_ looks.

Ashley just laughed again.

Eliza sighed.

"C'mon, guys," Lysander announced, "we don't have all day. Let's get moving!" The group nodded and followed, assuming a box position, Crystal by Lysander in front of Ashley and Eliza.

No sooner had the whacked a couple of bushes and picked up the Force Gems they wielded had the sound of flapping reached their ears.

"Ugh," Ashley groaned, "Do we have to listen to this overgrown chicken?"

"Unfortunately," said Eliza drolly. "He's gonna be here throughout the entire game." Ashley groaned again, quieter this time so the owl wouldn't hear. Kaepora sat on a perch just a few feet away from them.

"Convenient, these wooden posts," he muttered, turning his attention to the quartet. "Well, there's a terrible fiend in Hyrule Castle!" Lysander scratched at his hair. "So that's where we are. Wonderful, we may get some help at some point." "I wouldn't count on it," whispered Crystal.

"He's leeching power from the maidens little by little. Listen well, young travelers, to rescue the maidens, you must face the fiercest of foes. Keep your wits about you, and be wary!"

"Always a nice tip," Eliza said under her breath. That was when Kaepora let out several honking hoots and flew of in a flurry of feathers.

It wasn't long until they came across the towering structure that was Hyrule Castle. "Wow," said Ashley, "didn't know we were so close." Crystal shrugged, looking up in awe. "Yeah, neither did I." Crystal looked over at Lysander, her eyebrows furrowing in worry. "Are you okay? You need anymore hearts?"

Lysander nodded. "Maybe one or two. I wouldn't like to risk getting hit by one of those bombs those guards are throwing and be seriously hurt." He held his right hand over his chest, as if to protect it. It was still hurting from what happened back in the Cave of No Return.

Crystal whacked several spaces of grass and came back with a few. "Here, these should heal you." Lysander chuckled. "Anything's possible in a half real, half game world huh?" Crystal chuckled. Eliza looked over at Ashley. "_You_ need anything?" "Maybe some aspirin. All their mushy stuff is making my head go nuts."

"Hey! Cut it out!" Ashley laughed softly.

"So which way? We obviously can't go through the gate." Eliza pointed left. "That way, I think. Let's try that way first." They came to a big rock after cutting down lots of grass in the process. Ashley and Eliza moved it with little difficulty at all, and threw it at the wall to avoid getting hurt. A pathway was revealed, and they went down.

It wasn't too dark, and there were lots of pots, and Force Gems, and it hadn't ended yet, so it seemed to be a way in, so far.

And indeed it was a way out! Until they started getting shot at.

"Whose idea was it to go left?" Ashley yelled as her sword clashed against the guard's. "Not mine!" shouted Eliza back. Lysander and Crystal watched as the guard went up in a little black POOF and left a five force gem, which Eliza picked up and gave to Ashley.

"For you, madam, since you so graciously love my navigation skills." Ashley grumbled, snatching it. "You said it would get us into the castle… not a bloody battlement!" Eliza laughed and patted Ashley's back.

"I never said that… I just said we should go left."

And with that she began to push a block that was in their way. Ashley grumbled to herself while Crystal stood and smirked.

"She _did_ say that you know." "I know. That doesn't make it any less humiliating." Crystal sighed and tried not to laugh. Lysander just shook his head.

"Girls…" Crystal turned and glared. "I didn't mean it like that," he said, holding up his hands. She sighed and then smiled. "C'mon you big lug."

Eliza came back, a fairy fluttering around her.

"I'm your fifth fairy!" It said in a feather light voice, giggling and then disappearing as it flew around the group. "Guess that means we have five fairies, then," Ashley observed. "Nice to know we won't die anytime soon." Eliza coughed, trying to hide a laugh. "Oh I'm funny now, mm?" Eliza nodded. "Yes, quite."

During this, Crystal had pushed back the second block, hitting a switch and turning it green. "Okay… now what?"

All of a sudden there was this rumbling and the ground started to shake. She looked over the side. "Hey, the gate's open! C'mon guys! Let's storm this castle!" Eliza looked at Ashley. "Why does that sound so familiar?" Ashley shrugged. "No idea." They followed Crystal around the first block and off a ledge, somehow landing safely.

Eliza giggled quietly to herself. "I love game logic." "Feeling's mutual," muttered Ashley.

And they strolled into the gate to find…

"Ahh, there's so many!!"

Lots and lots of apparently corrupted soldiers. "They could be fathers to little kids and stuff," whispered Ashley to Eliza as the group stood in the shadows, still unknown to the battalion. "We shouldn't kill them."

"You didn't say that about the guy up on the battlement… and, for your information, this is a game world. Mostly. Even if they are fathers to little kids that may never see them again, we can't pass until they're gone. Here," said Eliza squeezing Ashley into a gentle hug, "it's all right. Just think of them all as that guy up on the battlement."

Ashley smiled a little, wiping a small tear away. "You know, the guy snuck up on me. He deserved it!" Eliza chuckled and glanced endearingly at her cousin.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Crystal nodded. "Immensely. Now let's go kick some evil booty!" They charged, and fought, until only the leader stood. His red cape flowed around him in the wind, flapping wildly at them, hissing.

"Go behind him, Ash," shouted Lysander, "Eliza, go to his right. I'll take his left-" "-and I'll take his front," cut Crystal, smirking. Crystal barked back at Ashley. "Run up to him! Distract!" Ashley did so, giving time for Crystal to run up and stick to sword through him once. Yet he still lived. "I-I don't understand…" And the giant man made to strike her down but Lysander dived and rolled her out of the way, Ashley giving him a few more swipes to his back and he fell in a soft POOF, leaving a giant green Force Gem. "You okay?" he asked. She nodded numbly, a little surprised at his closeness.

Two chests appeared. "We got these, guys. Trust us, we're okay." Crystal shook herself and opened the right chest.

"Cool! A Force Gem! What'd you get?" He smirked politely at her. "A Heart Container. Lovely, if I had only waited a few more minutes to get it and it would've been so much more useful." She laughed and they followed Eliza and Ashley further into the castle.

They arrived at a second courtyard, but this one was quieter. Too quiet.

"Eh… what now?" Lysander muttered. "Pull those levers?" They shrugged. Anything was worth a shot here.

First, Crystal pulled the left one, and two more soldiers appeared, and they quickly fought them down, even if they were a little shaken by their sudden appearance. "Why do they even have that lever?" asked Lysander. Crystal shrugged.

"There's something familiar about that quote too, but I can't put my finger on it…" Ashley whispered to Eliza. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Crystal pulled the lever on the right and the door opened. Since they had nowhere else to go but back – "Never a good idea," said Eliza – they went inside.

"What is _with_ all these guards?" Ashley shouted, clashing once more with a guard, Eliza hitting it from the back, Crystal and Lysander handling the second some three or so yards away. "Dunno," Eliza said, "maybe the fact that we're in a castle would say anything?" Ashley rolled her eyes and huffed, crossing her arms.

"Come on, guys," Lysander called from the top of a set of stairs, "Crystal's leaving us! Hurry up!"

Ashley and Eliza looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed the two down a hallway and out into the light once more.

.oOo.

Vaati sighed. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Talking to a servant, ha! And yet… here he was, groveling before her door, just standing. Not saying anything.

He flicked his bangs out of his vision and knocked on her door, still grumbling. It wasn't like he had any control over what she said, only what she did, and how. He apparently had no control over his feelings, either. "I know you're there," he hissed, "so open the door already."

The door opened, slightly, tenderly, the shadows that opened it writhing at his presence. He half sneered, half smiled. At least something around here was still afraid of him; this servant didn't count.

She was afraid of nothing other than her precious other half's safety, and that was compromised.

"I've yet to learn your name, since you're so keen on keeping silent… what is it, if I may ask?" It was awhile before she spoke. Her back was turned to him, and she was sitting on her bed, for she seemed to be watching something. Most likely the mirror he'd given her – her only outlet to the outside world.

"Alexia. That's what she named me." She turned her head back to me.

"I was born of her childish fear when she lost her parents. I assume you came to learn more about me?" Vaati rubbed his chin with a stray lock of hair. He didn't really know why he was here, just that he wanted to talk.

"Not really," he muttered, "I don't know why I came here. Just to talk, I suppose. What you said made me…" He struggled to find a word that wouldn't make him look weak. "It made me… think. Yes, that's it. About what Ganon told me." He looked away, frowning.

She turned to him, her head tilted.

"Hikari always said I had that affect on people… what did he say to you?"

He looked up at her.

"He told me that I was just his pawn, and that I had no real power over him, like I thought I did. It… unsettles me." He was startled when he realized the word that had come out of his mouth.

"No, no!" he hissed, "No…" He sighed, sitting on a chair nearby, exasperated.

Alexia was now thoroughly confused. "Sir? Something wrong?" His eyes traveled to her. "With me, yes. I can't think straight anymore… it's like I don't know who I am. I don't know if it's you that started it, or Ganon, but I want myself back!" He was now standing, his right fist balled into the air in front of him.

Alexia's eyes looked him over… such a troubled soul… what made him this way? She stood at last finally turning around to him, the images in the mirror behind her flashing with bright colors and clashing swords.

"Vaati, if you want yourself back, I suggest you start at the beginning."

He scowled. "The beginning of what? I have no beginning." His voice was low as he snapped at her. He didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Your life. Your home." Her strange, staring eyes narrowed.

"Your beginning."

He growled at her. "Forget my beginning. Thinking about my old blasted master Ezlo is nothing I need to think about!" He huffed, and then turned sharply toward the door. "Good day, Alexia. Stay here until I tell you otherwise." His boots clicked on the stone floor as he walked briskly back down the hallway.

"Ezlo?" Alexia wondered, staring down the blackness that was this particular hallway, her body, in its slender blue dress, against the door. "Who is… Ezlo?" She rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm…"

She turned back into her room, closing the door behind her.

Vaati cursed under his breath.

"Blast! Why did I even bother going? Now I've gone and told her about my old master! Ugh." He sighed and stood there for a while, until a shadow came up from the floor in front of him. He scowled. What news did Dark Link have for him now, hmm?

The shadow finally materialized, and he saw the wounds that were only just now staring to heal.

"Whoa… which one of them did that to you?" The shadow neither sighed nor grimaced.

"The one in red. I admit, my lord that I am the fastest swordsman you can find in this accursed land, but I will always be bested at continuous battles of strength. She was protecting the blue one…" He trailed off, clearly puzzled. Then he looked back at his master. "She won, gave me these injuries, and I asked her why she was doing this. She told me she had many questions, and I asked her which one was the right one."

"And let me guess," Vaati cut in, "she asked who your master was?" The shadow nodded. "Yes, she did. I told her she already knew the answer."

Vaati mumbled something under his breath and then shook his head.

"Did you tell her what I asked you to?" Dark Link nodded.

"I did. You best pray they listen to you, master. Do you have any more need of me?" Vaati raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. Go toy with them some more. I don't care how. Do as you like."

The shadow glanced at him. "May I visit my lighter half first?"

Vaati rolled his eyes, but refrained from sighed. He was through with sighing today. "Yes, go on, go find him. I need… to think."

With that, Vaati left, and Dark Link was left to his own, heading toward the dungeons.

He walked deeper and deeper into the darkness, the torches lighting because of his magical source, and he finally came to a stop at a dark cell that was slightly more lavish than them all. Inside was a wooden table and chair, with a plate on top of the table with not a single crumb upon it, two buckets, one for water, and one for… well, other needs.

And there was a bed with a creaky but soft downy mattress, a few blanket and two pillows, which was currently occupied by an angel. His angel.

Dark Link sighed and pressed his face against the cool bars.

He made sure his angel wasn't treated badly, but well enough so that he was healthy and alive. He wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure they let him take a bath once a week, too. And he had a window by his bed, even if it was far too small for him to escape out of. At least he could see sky.

He smiled softly at the boy, his mussed blond hair slightly longer than it looked like it should be, tangled up cutely in the covers. He sighed again and blew his angel a gentle kiss.

He knew he had to leave now, but he didn't mind. His angel was safe.

He let himself have one last look before he disappeared; the space looking like it had never once been occupied by anyone.

.oOo.

"Sweet! 100 Force Gems!" "Psh. Sweet for you, I got 20." "Oh hush! Here, take it!" "No, I'm sorry I complained I–" "…" "–all right, fine."

"Guys!"

Crystal was looking at Eliza and Ashley, her hands on her hips. She wasn't angry, but she was a bit miffed. "Come on already! We don't have all day! Now stop bickering or I'll blast you with my Fire Rod!"

"Eep!" squealed Ashley softly. "She means it too."

Eliza laughed darkly. "If she even so much as touches you with her pinky, she dies." "You might want to consider the fact that we have five faeries…" Eliza shrugged. "I'll do it five times if I gotta."

Ashley shook her head, blushing a little. "Naw, you don't have to that.. come on, let's go anyway. We have a castle to save!"

Eliza just laughed again as she followed the rest of the group.

To recap, Crystal found a Fire Rod, Lysander and Eliza both found bows, and Ashley had found bombs of all things. The group was… a bit skeptical of letting her use something like that, even Eliza.

"No! Come on! Just one wall! Really, it won't blow up!" Ashley tugged playfully at Crystal's right sleeve. "I dunno.. that wall doesn't look stable… but… fine. That wall only."

Ashley giggled and placed a bomb there at once, stepping away with the rest of the group.

"Okay, it should go off in 3…2…1!" BOOM!

The bomb blew up, blasted half the wall away, and torched all the grass within four feet of the vicinity of the explosion, just a foot shy from where they were standing.

"Don't let me agree to letting her bomb any walls again unless I know they will blow up," Crystal whispered to Eliza. Eliza shuddered. "Sure. No problem."

They realized at once they were on the inside of a watchtower.

"Okay, here's a ladder…but what's that sound?" Crystal questioned. Lysander looked up. "My guess is that thing up there." "What thing?" "That!" He pointed upwards at cannon with little wings on the side hovering in the air above them.

"It's like that cannon we jumped into before we jumped off the waterfall, right?" Ashley asked Eliza. "Yeah, but I wasn't exactly fond of it back then, either." Ashley giggled. "We can go together Liz, c'mon!" Eliza groaned. This was one time Ashley's enthusiasm would not be enough to convince her to do anything.

And yet she went.

"Ahh!" Clinging to Ashley for dear life, the pair soared through the air, and landed in a heap on a ledge just below a chest. "Hey! Grab whatever's in that chest, Crys! We may need it!" Eliza shouted, sort of.

"Okay, you can get off now, Ash." Ashley just smiled and buried her face in her hair. "You're far too soft…I wish I could stay with you forever."

Eliza blushed, dark. She was glad she was darker skinned than the rest of them, otherwise it would've shown. "I-I-ah you know Lysander and Crystal will be landing soon." That got her off _real _quick.

Eliza got up just before Lysander and Crystal landed quite gracefully next to them.

Ashley pouted. "Why do they get to land on their feet? Are they like cats or something?" Eliza laughed. "That or they're just lucky. Right, Crys?" She winked, and Crystal laughed.

"Oh, and we got a key," she said, pocketing it. "Let's jump in this last one and our jumps should be over for awhile, I think." She and Lysander jumped in first, Crystal laughing. "I still don't know why she likes doing this," muttered Eliza. "Probably because you don't." Eliza chuckled. "That may be."

They arrived outside once again, higher up on a battlement. They jumped down to the lower level, game logic ensuring their safety and kept them fro falling off the battlement they'd landed on.

"Still not used to that," Lysander whispered to Crystal. She shrugged. "Just go with it, Sander." She took his hand and dragged him off to their left.

"This way!" "The castle? Again?" "The boss _is _inside the castle, you know."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

Sneaking through the hallways wasn't exactly Ashley's idea of a good time, but if it meant saving her life, she was completely fine with it.

"Where are we taking the key?" "To the throne room," said Crystal, "I saw a locked door in there earlier."

And, sure enough, the door opened for them, and they were walking through the hallways until a single bat ambushed them. "Ah!" In the process, however, it had succeeded in startling Crystal, which earned it the pleasure of quickly being burned to a crisp.

Ashley tugged at Eliza's sleeve. "Remind me not to do that if she's got the Fire Rod." Eliza nodded.

"Gladly."

Outside again, they encountered three guards. "No problem for us, right?" said Crystal. The others nodded.

After the guards disappeared in three puffs of smoke, the door on the other side of the courtyard opened, and a clanking sound could be heard from within.

"Uh oh." Lysander looked a Crystal. "That doesn't sound good." She nodded.

"Most definitely."

Slowly, a man (or what looked like one) came out, dressed in full armor, and swinging a nasty-looking ball-and-chain mace.

Gulp.

The little rabble of four stood in a line as it approached.

"All right," Crystal said, laying out their plan, "Eliza, take the back. Ash, the left. I'll take the right, and Sander, you'll take front." They nodded. She touched Lysander's wrist briefly, her eyes sparkling, realizing that the mace could do some very real damage to all of them.

"Try not to die on me now, okay?" He nodded. "I promise. Now go on!"

They all assumed positions, and Crystal, having laid out their plan, attacked first. "Ahh!" She charged, holding her sword and Fire Rod out, the sword for defense, the rod for attack. The mace came round and she blocked enough of it off to roll to her right and blast at his back with her rod.

Some of the back armor had melted away, revealing a weak spot. Unfortunately, the mace was coming round again, and she only had enough time to block herself so she could be safe.

The force of the mace barreled into her sword, shock waving her to the left of the creature, slamming against the wall, semi-conscious.

"The back," she cried hoarsely, "hit the back!"

Eliza, who was still directly in the back of the creature, charged with her sword. She wove in and out of the swings of the mace, which she could've sworn was twirling faster, in order to get close.

She raised her sword behind her as she ran at full speed, and swung it around in a wide arc, damaging his back. "Get him Sander!" she cried.

The creature, in his anger, turned to face her, and knocked her out with his mace. Ashley gasped, enraged. "Stay away from her you creep!"

He took no notice of her until she came in his vision, attempting feebly to fend him off so he couldn't finish off the unconscious Eliza behind her. "Sander, now!"

Lysander nodded, and attempted his own run. Once, twice he was able to get a slash across his back, but the third was stopped short. The creature, mobility limited as it was, twisted back in order to upset the current trajectory of the mace's iron ball and slammed it straight into Lysander, unprepared.

He dived as fast as he could, but not before he flinched a single precious second.

And then the miraculous happened; a long beam of flame shot towards the spiked ball, reducing its size, barely nicking the tip of his head. The flames died out, and the creature turned toward Crystal, who was recoiling against the wall, still in pain, the Fire Rod clattering on the stone floor.

Lysander quickly recovered, and looked to Ashley, who nodded.

The both of them charged, their swords glowing. "Ahh!"

Slash!

Their double slash attack not only saved Crystal, but destroyed the creature, which disappeared in a poof, leaving behind a Force Gem.

"Take it," he said to Ashley, "you haven't gotten much yet." She grinned, nodding her thanks. Lysander walked over to Crystal, helping her up. "Are you all right?"

"All right enough," she coughed, "at least I'm not choking up blood. That would be bad." Lysander laughed softly. "Yeah. Please don't joke about that." She nodded. "Thanks. I think I can stand now." She looked over to Ashley and Eliza. "She all right?" Ashley gave a thumbs up, and helped Eliza onto her feet.

As soon as she'd come closer to Lysander and Crystal, they could hear her mutter something about feeling like she'd been thrown by a horse or something.

"Close enough, Liz," said Crystal, "more like a scary guy with a ball-and-chain." She flashed a tender smile. "Now let's hope we don't get in any worse shape than we already are."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the group heard the now-familiar sound of stone scraping against stone.

"Not again," groaned Eliza, "I just recovered from the last one!"

Again, they backed up in a line, a little closer than before, against the south end of the courtyard. Then, a battalion of soldiers burst forth from the northeast and west sides of the courtyard, yelling and screaming a battle cry.

"Oh shit."

Lysander and Eliza began to fire as many arrows as they could to reduce the initial number of men, with Ashley tossing out bombs as fast as she could light them. Crystal shot off an array of fireballs, which, as a bonus, exploded when they came in contact with anything physical.

By the time they had reached striking distance, only about ten were left, maybe less, and using their swords they finished them off.

"Hey," Ashley said softly, "that wasn't so bad…" Eliza grinned, and then looked up. "Look! Force!"

And indeed, force rained upon them, and once it had all been collected, their sword all lit up!

"Wow," exclaimed Crystal, "our swords have so much energy they could take down anything!" Eliza nodded. "We'll use this energy to free the maidens from Vaati's clutches.

"Now come on, let's go!"

.oOo.

Zelda shivered. It was awfully cold here, too cold for her liking. But this was her prison; her captor would only care if she were freezing to death. She'd be warmed up, under a two days' watch, and then thrown in here again.

Pity she hadn't a shadow of her own to barter for better prison quarters.

Maybe then, perhaps, she'd be able to do more than just hope that she would be rescued.

Zelda's head turned around so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash when the door creaked open. The figure that entered was not who she was expecting, but she did not react. She kept her face in a firm steady frown.

His purple robes billowed in the gentle cold breeze. He looked tortured.

"What? No words for me, Vaati? Just come to observe me suffer?"

The moment the words left her lips she gasped and bit them. She shouldn't have said that… but Vaati did not react to them, unless the darkening of his eyes was anything close to a reaction.

Vaati looked up into Zelda's crystal blue eyes, as if searching for answers.

"Not even a silence," she whispered to herself. The 'silence' she spoke of was what he usually said to her if she even tried to speak. She should have known something was up the minute he walked in. Vaati, meanwhile, was battling with himself. He didn't know why he'd come here, and now he was almost regretting his decision.

"Zelda," he said at last, "be as honest as you want with me; my actions, are they truly mine to blame? Or did I just want to prove myself?"

Zelda blinked. Her back against the stone wall of the circular stone tower, cold and shivering, despite the dress she wore. The very dress she was known for, in fact, with all its embroidery of the royal family. She had not expected him to come here to ask her such a question.

"S-Sorry?" she stuttered.

Vaati's eyes widened a little; he had been expecting her to know. Then they furrowed again in his disappointment.

"Never mind, Princess. I suppose you have enough to worry about than the pit of despair that is the story of my life."

His eyes flashed with an emotion Zelda recognized; an emotion she wasn't sure she had ever seen Vaati experience. Pity.

"You pity me?"

Again, the words left her lips without thinking, but she did not bite them back as she had before. This new Vaati was strange to her, and she wondered why he was experiencing such a change.

He looked at her straight in her eyes, piercing her very soul. She shuddered, but not from the cold. She was beginning to regret her words a little.

"Yes, Princess, I do." She had not expected that either. "I must tell you, there is hope yet for you, but perhaps, not for me." He sighed. _Perhaps this accursed hat will bring me my doom…_ he thought, tugging at it gently like a small child. _In Minish years, I still am a child._

"There is hope for you Vaati." He jumped, startled. He looked at Zelda again. "There is hope for everyone Vaati, save for Ganon." He had to smile at that.

Then he left without saying another word.

.oOo.

"Does anyone know if it's nighttime or not?"

"It's been night for a while, Ash," said Eliza, eyes dark and tired. "We've just been so caught up in all this action, it's hard to see the passage of time." Ashley shook her head. "Yeah, sure. Don't you go all Yoda on me."

Eliza smiled. Ashley was kind of cute when she complained. Funny, Eliza wondered, how you notice such things when you like someone.

Eliza's head turned around to see Lysander and Crystal come in through the door. "C'mon guys, we've got to move if we want to rescue this maiden and get some decent sleep afterwards."

She noticed how Crystal's cheeks flushed a little when she noticed they were holding hands; something simple, but Eliza knew it made her heart flutter like it had when she'd met that _boy_. Still, she didn't quite know how far Lysander had gotten into her cousin's fragile heart, and that at any possible moment, something could snap.

"So how about that Shadow Link, eh Eliza?" Eliza jumped at Ashley's voice, and blushed when she realized their closeness.

"Hmm? Y-Yes he is s-somewhat persistent," she muttered, trying and most likely failing to hide her stutters by laughing. "But I do s-see what he's getting at. Perhaps there is more at work here than just a game."

Was she ready to believe that? Eliza mentally shook her head. Eliza's life was about facts and emotion. This could actually be just a dream. One that they were all having. It… had happened before. If that were so, perhaps she wouldn't be reconsidering her 'self' in general, and the game might actually be going to plan.

She didn't even flinch when they went into the cannons beyond the king's chair, and jumped from cannon to cannon.

Until they were up in the open air, and there was no cannon to catch them, or anything to soften their fall. Ashley's fall.

"Ash!"

Ashley clung to Eliza and somehow, when they landed, it wasn't hard or bruising at all, but light, if not a little damaging to the ears by the way they landed on some pots and shattered them into nothing,

Ashley was on top of Eliza, a little stunned.

Suddenly, she smiled, leaned in a little (which made Eliza blush again) and said, "You were right. It is nighttime." Eliza nodded numbly. "Y-Yeah. Sure. Now get off." Then _she_ grinned, but didn't make a move. To be honest, she liked this.

But something was missing. Just as Ashley was leaning in a _little_ further, she remembered.

"Hey, where are Crys and Sander?"

Ashley groaned.

_What a way to ruin my moment, Liz!_

Then they came out of the opposite side, clinging to one another when they realized they'd come to the end of the cannons. However, unlike Ashley and Eliza, Lysander had taken control and had managed to make them roll instead of landing with a thud on the pots. Even though they still broke them.

The four got up, Ashley slightly put out at Eliza's obliviousness. Eliza, she reasoned, was still getting used to the idea of a girl/girl relationship. But she couldn't put her frustrations off much longer.

"The monster should be up ahead. Let's hope you know more about monsters than we give you credit for, Liz," Crystal said as they headed up to the platform.

Eliza gasped when their new enemy appeared out of the bubbling shadows.

"It's Phantom Ganon! He's…from Wind Waker!"

And he wasted no time in attacking them, flying and swinging at the group. They had to split, Lysander and Crystal on one side, Ashley and Eliza on the other.

"I don't care what game he's from," Ashley hissed, "we need to figure out how to defeat him!" "Right," Eliza nodded.

"Well, usually, he'll rear up and then throw a ball out light at y-ohh!" The same ball of light came at them, and only by a quick reaction did it just miss them. "Look out for the small ones that rebound!" Ashley wasn't fast enough to get out of the way, and was hit in the back by one of them, falling hard on the ground with electricity sparking all over her body.

"Are you okay?" Eliza asked, bending over her. "I'm fine, just go get the bastard!" Ashley crumped inward, waiting for the waves to pass. In a moment, she was fine enough to get up, but she stood behind Eliza a little.

"Crys! Sander! Spread out! We don't know where he'll aim!"

The nest ball of light headed for Crystal, who jumped up and hit it spectacularly.

"He'll hit it again! Watch out Sander!"

Thanks to Eliza's warning, Lysander saw the ball of light headed for him, and hit it hard enough to bounce it back. Phantom Ganon hit it again, but it was head for nowhere! "Got it!" cried Eliza, who hit it back in time to see it rebound and crash into a surprised Phantom. "Get him!"

Lysander and Crystal whacked him as many times as time allowed, and he floated back up again.

"How many times do we have to do this?" Ashley asked, finally brave enough to stand out on her own. "Usually it takes three times to get them to die, if not more," Eliza shot back. Ashley groaned.

They injured the Phantom a second time without major injury, but the third was not so lucky.

They were caught up in another 'game' of pass and catch with the Phantom, when Ashley jumped up to hit the ball of light and missed, landing very wrongly on the stone with a sickening _CRUNCH_! Eliza had to resist going to her, because the smaller balls of light that rebounded were now targeting her! She jumped out of the way, and just in time to hit the next ball.

Lysander and Crystal took care of the last few hits, whacking like maniacs until the Phantom cried out and disappeared with a long black sizzle and poof! They collected the force it left while Eliza ran to Ashley.

"Ashley…" Ashley groaned, but not in her normal sarcastic way. "It hurts, Liz, it hurts…" Eliza's hands trembled. "I-I'm sorry, Ash. I-I can't fix this." Ashley just looked at Eliza, tears of pain rolling down her cheeks. Eliza cradled her as gently as possible, gently kissing her forehead. Ashley's heart would have soared at the attention she was getting form Eliza had it not been distracted by the pain of the bone she could barely see jutting from her knee.

Crystal and Lysander gasped. "Oh Liz," said Crystal, "what now? This time doesn't have the kind of technology we need to fix this…" Eliza looked down at Ashley, who was trying her best not to convulse for fear of moving the bone any further.

"It's a clean break," said Eliza, "you're right, we don't–ah!" She remembered the little fairy from earlier. "Faeries, can you fix this?" Indeed, the faeries could. Two little faeries fluttered around Ashley's injury, mending the bone and tissue right in front of their very eyes.

"Well," Lysander muttered, "looks like they're good for injuries as well as deaths. We must be careful how we use our remaining supply."

Eliza nodded, and tightened her grip on the shaken Ashley, who was staring at her clean, perfect knee like it wasn't hers. "Come on, now Ash, it's okay now." Ashley nodded numbly, and got up with Eliza's help.

They walked down the stairs and shattered the orbs that held the maiden in place. It turned out the blue maiden was inside.

"Where am I?" she asked. Before anyone could answer, she said softly, "The darkness…it's gone. I have been freed, haven't I?"

The quartet could only nod.

The maiden gasped. "The Four Sword! Oh! That means Vaati is free once more, does it not?" Again, they nodded. "And you've taken the mantle fate has given you! How brave!" "Not that brave," Ashley muttered. Eliza's heart went out to Ashley. Her confidence must be pretty beat up. She drew her in to a gentle hug. Ashley smiled a little, and whispered to Eliza, "Thank you."

"Such determination speaks well of you," continued the maiden, "you must save the princess and the remaining maidens! Oh, and Link, too!" _So that's where he is_, Crystal thought. And then her crystal prison shattered, and in her place fluttered a little fairy that reminded them all a certain fairy in particular.

"Allow me to take you to the Eastern Temple, where one of my sisters awaits. Come! We must go!"

And then they stepped into the columns of light, and she called out to them.

"You have seven faeries, thanks to you valiant force-collecting efforts!" And then they were gone in a flash.

* * *

Vikki: Ooh! Emotion! Drama! Teenage angst! Okay, so Eliza's like twenty-one, but so what? And I gave you the Vaati kawaiiness I promised! As you can see, this is probably not going to totally follow the game. Well, that's my plan! I'm mixing a couple things in like stuff from the manga, and a few of my own ideas. This may mess up the story so much that Minish Cap may totally fade from the Legend of Zelda timeline!

Yami Vikki: Won't that create like a paradox or something?

Vikki: Hush you! I don't care, I love messing with things like this. It's what we as fanfiction authors have power over! Writing in the impossible! (writes that some cold medicine and cocoa appear from nowhere) (takes cold medicine) Now, I think I deserve a rest for working on this through the cold I've got. And maybe some reviews?


	6. The Coast

Chapter Six: The Coast

* * *

Title: Quest of the Four Sword

Chapter: 6

Author: Hikari no Vikki

Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. I based the characters on one of my friends, and two of my cousins and me. I sort of own them… but I know I own my yami and Crystal though.

Description: For one, I can't write a good title to save my life, but that's not the point. While playing a round of Four Swords Adventures (how original), the game goes on the fritz and not only does the game suck us in, but it turns one of our number against us.

_More character development. Oh yay! I hope you don't mind the lag, but I have to heat things up a little before I separate them! Oops! Pretend you didn't read that…_

_You'll know what I mean about separating later, yes? Except I'll be nice. Go, read my stuff! Oh, and that cold is gone, thankfully. I can breathe again! _

* * *

Last time on **Quest of the Four Sword**:

"Allow me to take you to the Eastern Temple, where one of my sisters awaits. Come! We must go!"

And then they stepped into the columns of light, and she called out to them.

"You have seven faeries, thanks to your valiant force-collecting efforts!" And then they were no more.

.oOo.

They were set down safely of a patch of grass and sand. It was still night, but the travelers were thankful for that.

The Blue Maiden/Fairy fluttered in front of them, bobbing up and down in the salty breeze. "We must be near a coast," observed Crystal, "I can smell the sea." The fairy fluttered excitedly.

"Yes! Yes, that's where I've brought you! After a good night's sleep I hope the bond you all share will grow stronger as you meet the challenges ahead." She twirled around them, around them, and then hovered back into her spot before them.

"Be prepared," she whispered softly. And then she fluttered around them and disappeared.

Eliza looked around, and then further up ahead. The bright light of the moon showed much, but from what she could see, this patch of grass was the only one they'd see for a little while, and they were too tired to trek onwards for a better spot.

"Looks like we'll have to camp out here for the night guys. I don't see any wood, so it looks like we'll have to do without a fire."

Crystal nodded. "That's fine. As long as we get some sleep. Do you think we should take turns?" Lysander shrugged. "It's a nice idea, but whoever you pick, they're going to fall asleep just as fast. We're all so tired." The others seemed to agree. "Well, just for tonight," Ashley muttered sleepily. Next time, we take watch, unless we know we're safe."

With that settled, they all took their spots on the grass. It was cradled in a little valley, but this didn't do much to keep out the wind.

It wasn't much, this wind, but cold enough to make Ashley shiver like there was no tomorrow. On top of that, the events that had taken place in their battle with Phantom Ganon were still fresh in her mind, and that wasn't helping her get to sleep. The cold rattled deep in her bones until she got up to seek the warmth of another person. Time had passed so quickly, she thought, for Lysander and Crystal were curled up next to one another, and fast asleep. Either time had passed or they were fast sleepers. She shrugged. It was most likely the latter.

She looked to Eliza, who was shivering, but not too much. Just enough to…want to be near her and warm her up. Or be warmed by her.

She gently tapped Eliza on the shoulder. "Liz? C-Can I sleep with you?" Eliza looked over. Apparently, she'd been a little cold too, and though she wasn't entirely awake, she nodded, sort of. Ashley slowly snuggled up next to her, Realizing she was much warmer than she'd thought. Slowly sleep claimed her at last, lying spooned up with Eliza.

Eliza was the first to wake.

The first thing she realized was that a pair of warm arms was wrapped around her. The second, whoever the arms belonged to was enjoying this, because they made a soft, sleepy moan of contentment. Eliza didn't mind all that much, so she slowly turned to face Ashley.

She breathed out slowly. Being this close to the object of her attentions was distracting, if not at least enjoyable. Why, their faces were so close, she could kiss her! Perhaps, maybe she'd steal one. But she couldn't, not now. It wouldn't mean anything!

_It would mean a lot to you_, a voice in her mind reasoned, _it would prove whether she's worth all this trouble._

Mentally, she shrugged. What harm would it do?

So she leaned in, closer, and closer, tilting her head ever so slightly so their noses wouldn't bump, and she closed her eyes as she pressed her lips ever so slightly against Ashley's.

Feeling bold, she pressed a little harder, even daring to lick the peach-pink flesh. That was when Ashley stirred a little, her mind reacting to her stimulations. Ashley, in her sleep, began to kiss back, but bolder. The sudden change of pace struck a chord with Eliza, deep in the pit of her stomach. She blinked rapidly, and broke away.

She took in a deep breath, not realizing how much she'd needed the air. Ashley's eyebrows furrowed, her lips curling into a gentle pout of frustration.

Eliza wanted to kiss her again, but she didn't dare risk waking Ashley up. But before she could break away form her embrace, she heard Ashley mutter, "Oh Eliza, you always ruin my fun." She chuckled softly. She'd been dreaming about her…or perhaps her kiss had made its way into her dreams. Either way, it made her smile.

"Well then," she whispered back, "I suppose you get to ruin mine next time, yes?" As slowly as possible, she moved out of Ashley's arms, and looked for anything to eat.

She walked further down the path, and came to a little cliff. There were some coconuts and a few Octorock-looking monsters. She was pretty sure they weren't good food. And the coconuts were a little ways down…until she spotted what was hanging from the tree above her!

Bananas!

She climbed up and picked two bunches, and set them down. Briefly, she wondered if she could do anything with the spices that were available, but she remembered she didn't have her bow to help her. All their items disappeared when they'd changed levels.

So she just leaned back and ate one, rummaging through their pack to see if there was anything they might be able to eat.

"Sweet Nayru!" she gasped, "A fishing rod!" The Blue Maiden/Fairy fluttered around her, appearing out of nowhere. "Thought you could use a hand," she said softly. "Fish are good for energy. Hope you catch some big ones! Oh, I left you some bait, too. It won't run out." And then she twirled around her twice and was gone.

"Thanks, Blue Maiden," she whispered.

Crystal began to stir, and so followed Ashley and…Lysander still snored on.

"Am I going to have to do this every time?" She got up and nudged him with her foot. "No way am I getting myself in another tangled up mess. Sander, wake up, already…" Eliza chuckled and shook her head. On impulse she looked over at Ashley, who was staring blearily up at the sky.

"Rupee for you thoughts, Ash?" she asked. Ashley looked over at Eliza, blushing. Apparently she was thinking about whatever dream she'd been having. "Oh, you'd need more than a rupee for _my_ thoughts," she said, grinning. "Where'd you get that?" She gestured to the fishing rod. "The Blue Maiden gave it to us. We're gonna need food at some point, yes? Oh, and I found some bananas, too, if you're hungry."

Ashley's attention turned to the bright yellow bunches. Licking her lips, she peeled one, and started to eat it. She didn't say anything, but Eliza could almost feel her glancing at her every now and then. She'd definitely been asleep when she'd kissed her, but whatever dream she'd had had definitely affected her.

"Ah!" Crystal jumped back, finally having woken up Lysander after poking him for the 100th time.

"Okay, okay I'm up!" "C'mon Sander, let's go get some food!" "Food?"

Crystal hummed sarcastically. "Does your mom threaten to take away your food if you don't get up?" He laughed shakily. "Yeah, why?" "Maybe that's what I should do." "Don't blame me, I'm just a heavy sleeper!" "Uh-huh."

Eliza shook her head, smiling. "Come on, guys. Let's go eat. Oh, we're going to have to fight off a few monsters first, and Ash, bring those bananas!"

.oOo.

Cerulean eyes woke with a start.

Something felt off about this morning, but he wasn't sure why…until he saw the shadow staring at him. Dark Link. No, Shadow Link. The names were the same, and yet so different.

"D-Did you want something?" Link stuttered. The shadow sighed. "I want everything, but because I am nothing, I get nothing." The strange comment was left to hang in the air, and he could see that his dark half wanted to be here, but didn't, at the same time. He decided to try and make conversation.

"You seem uncomfortable. Why?" It was a simple question, he thought.

The shadow sighed again. "I want you, that's why." And a simple answer. Well, for the shadow. It made no sense to Link.

"I don't understand."

The shadow's gray eyes flashed, and looked into Link's. He met them readily, hoping to find something, an answer, perhaps, in their depths. There was none. Link seemed almost disappointed, until he caught a flash of emotion. A spark of something…and as he noticed Shadow's body language, he began to put the pieces together.

His shadow, his perfect other half…liked him. A lot.

"You want to…love me." Link said at last. The grey eyes soften even more. "Yes," Shadow replied, uncrossing his arms and walking toward the bars of the cell. "Yes, I want to. Well," he corrected, "I already wanted to, but…I can't." Link raised an eyebrow.

"Because…you thought I might not swing that way?"

The shadow stopped a few inches short of the bars, scoffing. "If only that were the case. I knew you did. Do. I am your other half after all."

Link realized how much he wanted to get closer to Shadow, to be able to reach out and touch his tunic, his hands, to hold them in his own, criss-crossing their fingers, putting their foreheads together…so close.

But he didn't. He stared into Shadow's eyes for the longest time, deliberately controlling his breathing to be slow and steady, like Shadow's.

"So," Link said softly, breaking the silence, his voice a hammer against thin ice, "what is it that holds you back?" Shadow's eyebrows furrowed. "The Dark Mirror. It fuels my very existence."

Link nodded, hoping there would be more. When there wasn't, he was puzzled. Surely the shadow didn't think he actually knew what that meant? Shadow studied Link's perplexed expression and decided to take pity on him. "I…can't be with you all the time. Whoever holds the mirror controls me, and I must do as they say. I'm only here because…I am able to be here."

Shadow chose his words carefully.

"If I could explain it, you might not understand. Please, let that be enough."

He came closer to the bars, his face gently pressing into them. Link was unable to resist getting up and moving towards the object of his attention. It was like he was being drawn to Shadow.

Shadow blinked blearily at Link as he walked, the sunlight cascading through the window, making the locks of his blond hair sparkle, and his skin shine. Even in rags, his Link was truly an angel. Link walked closer and closer, seeing for the first time the true emotion of complete adoration in Shadow's eyes. In the sunlight, they looked almost sparkling silver.

Suddenly, there he was, so close he couldn't believe he'd gotten there. And then their lips were closer, and closer, then locked in a battle for dominance. It seemed neither would win, but eventually, Link was the one. He smiled lustfully at his other half. His.

Shadow looked into Link's eyes again. "What about the princess?" Link grinned. "She knew I didn't like her like that." "What about girls? In general?" "Or in general."

A scoff. "And I thought I knew you. Seems like there's a lot about you I still have to learn." Another kiss, but gentle, sweet.

"Yes, that you do. See you soon?"

Shadow broke away regretfully. "Yes…" He flashed a flushing smile. "One more thing, Link." Link looked up. "Yes?"

"The four that are coming to rescue the maidens and the princess… my master sends me to them. They know they have to fight me, so please, don't be angry with them if they hurt me. They're only doing what fate has assigned them. Really, they have good–" "I get it Shadow. I won't be angry, I promise."

Shadow relaxed. "That's good to know."

"Now go on," Link said, gesturing with his hands for him to run along, "I'm sure you have places to be. I'll be right here, waiting."

Shadow nodded, smiled, and then disappeared into the darkness.

.oOo.

"Oh, it's nice seeing you again."

Shadow jumped up and down, taunting the group. "I've delivered my message more than once," he said, "I think it's time I had some fun, yes?" "Sure," Crystal muttered, "What do you have in mind?"

In the past hour or so, they'd cleared the little pond they'd come across of the Zoras, and finally they'd caught some fish and had very nice brunch. Both Lysander and Crystal carried bombs and Ashley and Eliza had slingshots. They'd also come across a house with a lady inside that could stand to, ah, lose a few pounds. "So much for civilization," Ashley had muttered.

And here they were standing in front of Shadow. He seemed almost happy, very upbeat.

"Oh, a simple game of 'catch me if you can'. If you hit me once with anything, slingshot, sword, what have you, I'll give you a gift. But I won't make it easy!"

"Oh, of course," Eliza said drolly, "but I suppose a quick pick me up would be nice. Why are you so happy anyway?" Shadow grinned. "Oh nothing at all really, just a kiss from my precious angel." Precious angel? "No way! Link?" He smiled softly. "How'd you guess?"

"Oh, c'mon," shouted Ashley, "let's play!"

It didn't take Eliza very long to nail a Deku Nut to Shadow's shoulder, after a short chase. He grinned at her. "As promised," he said, "your gift." And in a _poof!_ he was gone in a flash of purple swirls and a giant green force gem in his place.

"It's yours," Ashley said, nudging her with her shoulder, "you nailed him after all." She nodded. "Thanks, Ash."

"Hey, I've got a Heart Container!" Crystal came out of the house with a Heart Container in her hands, crushing it and absorbing the extra energy. Then she and Lysander picked up the boulder, and out came a moving force! "I got it!" cried Ashley, who managed a great tackle, catching it.

They went right and then jumped the cliff, game logic once again absorbing their fall. "I still love that." "Okay, Ash, we get it." They all laughed.

It was pretty much all chaos from there.

"Ah! I hate these things!" Eliza didn't really like them either, but she couldn't complain. "I remember how we defeat these things! Ash, when it shoots, just hold up your shield and then-oof!" A silver ball bounced against her shield straight back into the blue Octorock's, shooter, backing up the system and…

POOF!

"Gotta love it when they go poof," said Ashley. "Yeah, now let's do this."

Meanwhile…

"I got 50! You?" "100. Sorry, Crys." "No big deal." "Now let's go see what the lovebirds are up to, yes?" "Yes. Who knows what danger they might have gotten themselves in."

"It's all good, guys!" Lysander and Crystal looked around. "Where'd the little blue guys go?" "Gone," Ashley quipped, shrugging, "Eliza figured out how to kill 'em." Crystal nodded. "Okay, let's move onward. Unless anyone needs a break?" "Naw, we're good." "Okay…"

The quartet walked on.

"More water. I know this is a coast and everything, but I'd prefer a long stretch of fry land every once in a while you know?" Ashley looked on, pouting. But as the group inspected the whirlpool they'd spotted, Ashley's attentions turned to the step-stone in the middle of the water. She had to swim to get to it, but once she was up on the small (very small, hardly eight feet of walking space all around, including the 3 by 3 foot square in the middle.

"Hey guys!" She shouted, "I think we need to step on this!" They all came over, curious. "Why do I get the feeling that this is bad idea?" Eliza asked incredulously, placing her hands on her hips.

Ashley shrugged. "It probably is, but we don't seem to have any means of going further, and I doubt my bombs will work."

So they all stepped on the switch. Several Zoras all shot out of the water at once, spouting balls of energy in every direction possible. "Head for the whirlpool!" Crystal shouted, swimming for it as fast as possible, "there might be something down there!" Eliza scoffed. "Yeah, safety."

The dove down, grabbing a force gem on their way, until they found a ladder and climbed up as fast as they could, regaining their long awaited air supply.

Lysander was still gasping for air, coughing out water as he did so. Crystal rubbed his back in circles as the rest of the water left his lungs. "Next time that happens, tell me to take a proper breath," he said between gasps. Crystal just laughed and helped him up as they followed Ashley and Eliza. They found several slingshots in one room, but found they didn't need them. The other room, however, was a different story.

A fairy floated before them. "Please let me aid you on your way." Eliza and Lysander's slingshot glowed, but Ashley and Crystal's bombs didn't.

"Probably because that's not what we need," Eliza mused as the fairy explained how their improved slingshots worked. "You are correct. You two will also need them. I believe you saw some on your way in? Please go get them." They came back, having switched their bombs for the slingshots. Their slingshots too became glowing and filled with power.

"Should you need any other equipment, know you will find it on your way there." They all nodded and returned to the surface…

… just in time to be sprayed with an array of energy balls.

They all had the sense to raise their shields before any more damage was done, but they were slow to mobilize. Ashley banded with Eliza to take the bunch on the left as Lysander and Crystal banded to take the right.

Weakened by the initial blast, only one could shoot at a time, and then rest after they'd taken their shot. Communication gave way to simple body signals, and all was silent save for the sound of the energy balls flying towards their raised shields. Luckily for them, the power-up the fairy had given their slingshots multiplied the number of seeds they could shoot and increased their speed and power. The Zoras were defeated with simple persistence, but with relatively no injury.

"Everyone all right?" Crystal asked once they were sure they'd defeated all of them.

They all nodded. "Just a few scratches from that first blast. But we couldn't have known it was coming." Everyone could see Eliza's logic there. "Well we should move on, so let's go!

When they came to the pass, the sheer number of crabs that scuttled just beyond their feet took everyone aback. As usual, Ashley was the first to make a comment.

"Whoa, dudes, did they just have a mating frenzy right now or what? Cause this is…" "…Unreal," Eliza finished. Ashley didn't need to reply to that one.

"It doesn't really matter," Lysander said, still thinking, "We just need to press on." Everyone, realizing he was right, drew their swords and slashed their swords in a line formation, clearing the crabs like a steamroller smoothing over debris. "It's really creepy, that squishy sound that they make when your sword hits their armor," Crystal said, wiping her sword of the green crab guts on the grass.

"Yeah, I think so too," Ashley agreed, "and the way you feel the vibration of the sword slashing through flesh… I'm still not able to get over that." Eliza, cleaning her sword on the grass too, realized that they were not warriors, but they had been chosen for this for some reason. Slowly, her logical mind was accepting the fact that there was something behind this (that if it wasn't Vaati like the Shadow said, but something far worse) and they would have to do this – go through with this adventure – to become what was needed to save Hyrule.

Not that it was a bad thing; Eliza just didn't like the possibility of being used, even if it was to save a place that she loved.

"Eliza?" Ashley's face was right in front of hers when she came back to reality, blinking and breathing. She was stunned for a moment at Ashley's beauty; how her blond curls cascaded over her shoulders and how her face turned up in its innocent little pouts, like the one it was in now.

"I-I'm all right," she stuttered, her face blushing darkly. Ashley smiled as she studied her face, and them grabbed her hand. "C'mon, we have better things to do than brood!" Better things to do than brood… Eliza could think of a few.

When they came to a fenced area, they found Shadow again, bouncing as usual.

"Another game?" Crystal questioned dubiously.

Shadow nodded, still smiling. "But this time the game is much harder!" He stood on the fence, showing off his perfect sense of balance by twirling around.

"I'll throw these giant bombs that will explode everywhere! In… ten seconds. You have to find your way through the grass and underground tunnels to the escape route on the top of that cliff!" He jerked his head in the direction of said cliff. "Any questions before we begin?"

"Uh, yeah," Eliza spat, annoyed, "these bombs won't happen to kill us if they explode while we're above ground will they?"

"Before they would've, but I've turned down the power level enough so it'll only stun you. It'll still give you one hell of a shock, though, so I'd stick to staying underground as much as possible."

"Yeah, that's helpful."

"Good! Ready? Set? Go!"

And indeed Shadow pulled out this giant bomb with the number ten on it. The number began to tick down as the bomb began to warp in size.

"I think we should be moving soon," Crystal said as the number reached seven, "look, there's some stairs! Hurry!"

Just before it exploded they all made it down. Dirt fell from the sides of the hole and down into the water below from the explosion. They ran past the mage who they knew would give them advice they had already been given, so they climbed up the stairs and into the light.

"No! Go back down! Go back down!"

BOOM.

And then more falling dirt and the frantic beating of their hearts. "This is going to take a while isn't it?" Lysander observed. "Most likely," Crystal shot back heading aboveground again.

It took them a while to navigate to maze of grass and tunnels, finding several force and coming very close to being shocked many times. Why, once, Lysander hadn't ducked in time and his left arm lost all feeling for several precious seconds.

"Not something I want to happen again." Crystal, who had been there to catch him, nodded.

But finally they made it, the last of Shadow's giant bombs disappearing and Shadow bowing to them for completing his game. "It's interesting to see you work. For your cooperation, I'll give you this force!" He threw a giant green force at them and nodded a polite farewell before disappearing.

"He seems happier since he got that kiss… it's so very… unnerving." Eliza said as they walked. "I don't know; I actually like his games. Sure, it's a little strange, but it's better than what would've happened." Crystal countered.

"I suppose," said Eliza, still apprehensive.

.oOo.

Alexis stared at the mirror as she watched her hikari grow closer and closer to Lysander. She'd been right about him. Already he'd healed the scar that had taken years for Crystal to heal – partially – on her own.

She also watched the strange connection blossom between Ashley and Eliza. They two completely different people, but somehow, something came of it.

Alexis just folded her arms and laughed. She wondered, briefly how that was going to turn out as they progressed further and further into Hyrule. She knew from what she'd learned that they had a long way to go ahead of them, and this was only the beginning. There were still unspoken things among them, and if any one of them were sparked, it would set everything ablaze.

Her laughter turned to fear at this, fear and sadness.

But then, at that moment, Vaati came in the door, and Alexis resisted turning to him. She pushed her feelings back as she waited for a command or something from him, but none came for a while.

"Alexis, isn't it?"

Then she realized it wasn't Vaati that had come. She searched the aura of the person, cursing herself for not doing it earlier to make sure it was really Vaati. She didn't reply. She refused to. She was also afraid to. The musky scent of Ganon filled the room like spoiled pork. Alexis nearly gagged.

"Such a pretty thing… I can see why he keeps you here, away from that pitiful excuse for a lighter half." Pitiful?! She wanted to turn to him and snap in his face, but she feared the face she might see. Would she see the human Ganon, or the pig-like monster? She could imagine it was the latter, if Crystal's theory about a balance between the two aliases in the games was correct, and so she stayed where she was, desperately trying to tune him and his scent out of her senses, focusing on the picture of her hikari and her friends fighting of a multitude of pink Octorocks.

"I wonder, what would it be like to do what he does to you…" She could feel him step forward, but she was feeling puzzled more than anything. Was he implying that Vaati did _that_ to her?

"I'm afraid you won't find out today, Ganon." Alexis whipped around, spying Vaati at the doorway. She felt a wave of relief flood her as Ganon turned around, his pig-face morphing into a more human appearance.

"Why would I not find out today, you little cretin?" he snarled. "Because," Vaati countered, "my magic won't let you. She's my property at the moment and you aren't allowed to touch her physically or magically." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "At all."

Alexis felt a power surge through her and she stared at her hands in disbelief. They were glowing with a strange purple light that expanded to cover her whole body. She felt safe now, no longer threatened by Ganon.

Ganon watched this and then his face contorted in a fit of anger. He said nothing, but simply shot a murderous look at Vaati as he disappeared with a poof. Once he was gone, Vaati's stone-cold expression faltered, the strain of keeping it on his face too much, and he fell to the floor, clinging to one side of the doorway for support.

'He's afraid of him,' Alexis thought, amazed at her revelation.

Alexis simply said nothing as she went over to him, beckoning him to lie down on her bed. Vaati shook his head and he slowly came to his senses.

"Why did he think you kept me for your own pleasures?"

The question struck Vaati hard and he flinched. "I'm not sure. I never told that to him. You're something that appeals to him, something he wants simply because you're mine." He paused his eyes trailing her purple glow. "For the moment, at least. You are beautiful, too, and even if you were in his possession, he'd treat you the same way."

Vaati looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn't. He simply stood up and left, leaving Alexis to contemplate matters.

.oOo.

"Ack! I hate this! It's so fast!"

Ashley kept jumping and jumping around the creature, trying to slash at the last spinning bud on the creature's body.

Eliza, Crystal, and Lysander had all gotten theirs, though Crystal had sustained a bad cut that Lysander was tending to at the moment. Eliza cried out to Ashley.

"Just whack at it like a maniac! Do something other than stand there!"

She didn't mean to sound so cruel, but that was practically what Ashley was doing. Ashley's annoyance quickly turned into irritation as the thing seemed to spin faster.

"Ah, dammit!" she cursed. "That's wonderful, faster spinning…" she looked at her sword and then at her shield and thought of Eliza's words. 'Oh what the hell. We have lots of fairies don't we?' And then she ran at it, slashing blindly, her shield in position, yelling for all her lungs were worth.

And then sound ceased and Ashley fell to the ground.

Eliza ran over to see to her, scratches everywhere and a blood-covered sword in her hand. The creature was dead, thanks to Ash, but she was barely conscious. "Oh, Ash! Why is it you always get into these kind of situations?"

Ashley was jolted into a great coughing fit that produced a few flecks of blood, but no more. After it stopped, she clung to Eliza heavily, blinking exhaustion from her eyes. "We should keep going. I think we're almost at the next gate. Then we can ask the fairies if they can heal me again." She said this with a bitter smile.

"No," said Eliza firmly, "we're asking them now. Fairies, if you could help my… friend, I would be grateful." She didn't know what to call Ashley now, considering what was blossoming between them.

A single fairy fluttered around her and Ashley's energy returned along with healthy tissue and her usual hyper-ness.

"Thanks Liz," Ashley cried, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm so glad you always insist on healing me." She giggled then, and spun around in her new burst of energy. Meanwhile, Eliza just realized what had happened, and touched her lips with tender fingers.

Ashley stopped spinning and watched her. "What's wrong? Oh…"

Eliza looked up sharply as Lysander and Crystal made their way over, collecting the force the monster left behind. "Let's go break the next gate," Crystal ordered confidently, "we should have enough power to do so." She ran up the hill, Lysander looking back once, but followed after her quickly.

Eliza flashed a quick glance toward Ashley, staring for a moment before a few quick words left her lips. "We'll talk later, I promise." And then ran after them.

Once gathered in front of the dark gate, in their positions with their swords at the ready, Crystal gave the command for the slashing to commence. "All right, ready? One, two, three!"

And the balls of dark energy were smashed into oblivion.

"All right, anyone want to take a breather before we go?" Crystal shot over her shoulder. Eliza and Ashley looked at once another, but before anyone could speak, Lysander pointed up to the pillars of dark smoke rising beyond the trees.

"I don't think we'll be able to do that anytime soon. Look!"

Eliza and Ashley's talk, the both of them knew, was going to have to wait.

* * *

Ah, finished at last. Took forever, but, it's done! :D


End file.
